Adventures in child protection
by Izzy Dixon
Summary: When Deadpool and his partner receive a job offer te can't refuse...well...they can't refuse it. But when the job turns out to be watching a rich guy's kid, do they decide that the job is too good to be true? A rape mention and a lot of swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Stealth. The science of getting in and out of a situation without being detected. Or at least that's how Nikki describes it. Of course that's only because she's been doing stuff like this since she was a child so it's become more like a nature. The slower breathing. The lighter steps. The focus. Everything feels natural.

That's why it's so upsetting when she puts all the training forward and her partner blows everything up.

The explosion shakes the entire building and nearly knocks the teen off balance, causing her to swear violently and pressed closer to the wall to remain standing. Everything stabilizes pretty quickly and ten guards rush down the hall towards the disturbance. When the get too close, the young mercenary fades into the shadows, waiting until they all pass before reappearing. The black haired teen huffs in annoyance and continues forward, making sure to check every turn for threats before she makes it.

Once she safely passes another group of armed guards, the teen sighs and presses the talk button on ear communicator. "Damn it, Wade," she whispers to her partner as she creeps down the long hallway. "This is a stealth mission. We agreed no explosions."

"But explosions are the best," the red mercenary comments happily through his own ear piece. "Besides, you wanted a distraction. This is a distraction!"

Nikki sighs heavily through her nose and pulls her phone from her pocket, checking to make sure she's going in the right direction. "Just don't do it again," she orders as she follows the map to the end of the hall. "You put too much powder in that last one and nearly knocked the building down."

"I did not," Deadpool comments, sounding more excited than anything at the point. There's a pause filled by his childlike laughter and a few gun shots before he continues. "Have faith in me, Nixon. I have been doing this for a while."

Another small explosion rocks the building and Nikki sighs again. "It's not you I'm worried about..." She ends the communication line and crouches down in front of the door at the very end of the hall. The teen presses her palm firmly against the knob. With another deep inhale, Nikki focuses and feels the shadows inside the lock shifting into place. After a few seconds, the lock clicks and the black-haired teen smirks victoriously.

Nikki stands and twists the knob, allowing the door to open while she peers inside. Nothing pops out or immediately attempts to kill her, so she takes it as an invitation inside. The office is dark, but it's not a problem for the mercenary. Years of training and the ability to control darkness gives Nikki crystal clear night vision. So she shuts the door and continues inside. After another quick scan of the area, Nikki locks onto the target desk and starts forward.

There's about a dozen drawers in total on the desk, but the mercenary knows she doesn't have time to go through all of them. So she simply picks a few at random and riffles through. "Ha," she whispers victoriously after a moment, finally grabbing the right file amongst the other papers and shoving it in her waistband. "Time to g-"

Another explosion, a much larger explosion, rocks the entire building and causes the diamond chandelier on the ceiling to break free and crash to the ground. Nikki covers her face to avoid the shattering glass and feels the tiny pinpricks of micro-cuts litter her arms. Fire alarms blare and a flashing red lights fill the room, causing Nikki's night vision to go haywire.

"Nikki!" Deadpool calls in her ear, throwing her off just as she was adjusting to the alarms. "I messed up!"

"You think?" she replies, rising from behind the desk and rushing to the door. "What happened?"

"You know how you said I put too much gunpowder in my explosives?" he asks. "I think you were right!"

A single, sarcastic laugh pushes through the black-haired mercenary's lips as she throws the door open and runs down the hall. "I think you should have listened to me before," she comments, not bothering to be stealthy anymore. "Where are you? We need to go."

There's another pause before Deadpool speaks. "Second floor," he says through a few dry hacks. "Hurry up! It's getting smoky down here!"

Thick black clouds roll up from the stairs Nikki was heading for and causes her to stall her steps. "I see that," she says, covering her mouth mouth and nose with the top of her shirt. "Shit, Wade." The hall under the stairs starts tinting with orange as the flames spreads, bringing the teen to a full halt at the top. "Wade I can't get down," she informs, watching as the fire spreads fast and starts on the stairs. "It's spreading too fast. I need another exit."

"Uuuhhh," her partner says as she continues moving down the hall. "Is there a window?"

The words cause Nikki to stop in her tracks and she tilts her head toward the ear piece. "Come again?" she asks in disbelief. "Wilson. I am on the third floor. I'm not jumping out the window."

"There's a pool," he counters. "You could jump into the pool!"

"Wilson."

"I'm looking right at it!" he defends. "I'll jump with you!" A part of the second floor ceiling collapses and both mercenaries flinch. "I'm going for it!"

Before Nikki has a chance to reply, the older assassin gives a excited battle cry and a window below her shatters. The teen rushes to the nearest window and presses her face to it just as he partner splashes down in the twelve foot pool. "You have got to be shitting me," she huffs as he resurfaces. A sharp heat slaps her in the back and causes her to turn and face the rapid approaching flames. The younger mercenary passes another glance to the three story drop and groans in defeat. "Fuck me." With only the thought of survival in mind, Nikki takes a few steps back before running forward and throwing herself out the window.

"What the hell happened!?" the employer shouts, rising from his desk chair as the soaking wet, ash covered mercenaries enter. "You brought the entire place down! How stupid do you have to be to bring down a building for a file!?"

Deadpool smiles under his mask and jabs a thumb to his chest. "What you call stupid, Mr. Teach," he starts, already making Nikki regret allowing him to talk. "I call a grand gesture of success!"

Mr. Teach goes red in the face and snatches the damp file from his desk. "This is unacceptable!" he shouts. "I hired you to because you're supposed to be the best! This is the work of an amature!"

Nikki frowns. "Could you have gotten it yourself?" she asks flatly, speaking for the first time since they entered. "That's why you hired us, right? Because you couldn't get it yourself?" The black haired teen nods once at the file in his hands. "We got it in one piece, and it's legible."

"How would you-"

"I opened it," Deadpool admits with a nonchalant shrug. A wide grin forms under his mask at the look of horror on the employer's face. "That's pretty heavy stuff there, Ralphy. Hired assassins. Ordered executions. Rape of secretaries. Nothing a fine business man like you would want out in the public view, right?" Teach fish mouths in search of the proper response but gets cut off as Deadpool continues. "We made a few copies of that file that a few trusted friends are going to send to a few big news industries in an hour unless I call them off." The grin turns devious and he extends a hand toward the other man. "So quit your bitchin' and pay up, else I'm not gonna make that call."

Teach stands there sending horrified glances between both mercenaries in front of him. "Bull shit!" he settles on eventually. "You didn't do shit! There are no copies! No contacts! No nothing! You're just a couple of blackmailing sons of bitches who are getting too big for their own good!" The man spits in their direction and Nikki's frown deepens. "I'm not paying you for this half assed shit! Get out of my o-"

The rest of his sentence dies as his head snaps back, eyes rolling back as a red dot in the center of his forehead spills blood down his face. Teach's corpse drops hard and Deadpool lowers his gun, a similar look of disapproval on his face. "That's too bad," he says, keeping his eyes on the blood splattered wall as Nikki walks around the desk. "I was just starting to think we would become friends."

Nikki smirks at the joke and opens the top drawer. Stacks upon stacks of hundred dollar bills sit in neat stacks inside the drawer, causing the teen merc to whistle in admiration. "Do we have a bag or something?" she asks, glancing up from the stacks to her partner. A large black duffle lands on the desk in front of her and she nods in approval. "That'll work."

The mercenaries enter their current safe house, making sure to kick the door closed on their way in. "I'm taking a shower," Nikki call, dropping the heavy duffle in the open coat closet near the door. "Is there hot water?"

Wade shrugs and walks further into the ratty apartment, flopping on the mold sporing couch with a tired grunt. "How the hell would I know?" he asks, voice muffled from putting his face on the seat. "I haven't been here all day. Did we have any yesterday?"

The black haired teen sighs and runs a hand through her hair, pulling through a wet knot and coming back with a soot-colored hand. "Lukewarm," she huffs as she walks to the bathroom. "I think there's a message on the answering machine."

The older merc lifts his head as Nikki leaves, spotting a blinking red light on the phone. He groans in tired annoyance. "I don't want to do anything!" he declares despite the fact he's reaching for the button. Deadpool slams a finger on the playback button and waits.

'You have -one- new voice message...first message:'

BEEP

'Hello Deadpool,' starts an unfamiliar voice. 'My name is Quinten Shakes and I have a job for you. As you probably already know, I can't discuss the details over the phone..."

Deadpool snorts and rests his face back on the couch. "Typical newbie," he grumbles before tuning back in.

'...two point two billion dollars.'

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" The mercenary is now paying full attention to the man on the machine.

'If you choose to accept the job, please meet me in the penthouse room of the Frolicer Hotel in Detroit at three pm in three days. I look forward to your response, Mr. Wilson.'

BEEP

'End of message. To repeat-'

"NIKKI PACK YOUR SHIT! WE HAVE TO GO TO DETROIT!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I need to get better at putting these things in the first chapter but I own nothing but my characters. Thank you for those who favorited and followed.**

"The flight sucked. The food was shit. The asshole steward didn't bring my neck pillow," Deadpool rambles, standing beside his partner near the luggage claim. "I'm pretty sure I got crabs from that toilet. The cookies were old. The milk was warm."

Nikki sighs, watching for their luggage as it goes around the conveyor belt. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't even consider flying. No weapons allowed. Deadpool feels uncomfortable when he has to take his mask off. Nikki as a mild fear of flying. Worst of all, there's nothing to do for eight plus hours of air time. But since they were on such a time crunch and they got the message two days after the original call, they had no choice but to get online and jump on the first flight they could.

The black-haired teen nods in agreement as she finally spots their bag. "There," she says, lightly smacking his arm and pointing out their duffle. "Go get it." The unmasked merc groans in annoyance but does as told, dragging his feet as he trudges toward the belt.

Nikki's dark blue eyes follow her partner as he pushes and weaves his way through the crowd. Most people step back anyway, too nervous to touch the man with the weird face, and it makes Nikki sick. Of course it could just be the fact that she's lived with him for over twelve years of her life, but a small blossom of over protectiveness has formed for him. Never mind the fact that he's older than her, more skilled than her, can't die, and would probably save her more if it came down to it, but she still feels a certain need to jump to his defense whenever someone looks at him funny.

The anger diminishes after he grabs the bag and returns, smiling widely at her deep frown. "You look upset," he comments, placing a hand on her head when he gets in range. "What's up, Sir Nicholas?"

Nikki rolls her eyes and turns toward the nearest exit, only being slowed when Deadpool drapes his arm across his shoulders. "I hate people," she mutters, shooting a poisonous look to anyone who looks at Wade for more than two seconds. "I really hate people."

Wade's grin widens and he jostles her slightly as they walk. "Don't let it bug you, Nix," he says happily, pushing the door open and stepping onto the busy sidewalk. "It's just a few assholes. Nothing to worry about. Just keep your head up and let the haters hate!"

"It's not me I'm worried about..." she mutters, stopping when Deadpool does at the edge of the sidewalk. "What now?"

"Now," the older mercenary says, lifting his free arm over his head. "We get a cab." Wade holds his arm up for a total of five minutes before he sighs and drops it back to his side. "I hate this place," he grumbles, steering Nikki back to the entrance. "We're renting a car."

Nikki sighs deeply through her nose and allows herself to be led. "I hate rental cars," she mutters, continuing to glare at overly curious passersby. "They always smell like other people and smoke."

The man shakes his head and leads them to a line for a rental place. "Not these places," he explains as the line moves surprisingly fast. "These places make sure they smell clean and that you have at least half a tank of gas when you return it."

A frown of displeasure tugs her lips down and she glances at the exit again. "We should just walk," she mutters, attempting to tug Deadpool away from the line. "It'll be faster. Or we can take a train. Maybe we won't even have to blow it up this time..."

"We're not taking a subway or walking," he rejects, becoming a rock to keep her from moving. "We're going to be normal for a day and rent a car." Nikki groans beside him and he smiles again. "Aw. Don't worry about it, Nick. It'll be over before you know it."

"I'm not worrying about time," she says, shifting forward as they reach the next in line mark. "I'm just worried about what happens when they realize we don't have insurance or credit..."

Deadpool pauses as they call them next, then turns left and walks away. "We'll take the subway," he grumbles in displeasure as they head back toward the exit. "Be on the look out for a map."

"I'm always the eyes," the black-haired teen replies, discreetly flipping the bird to a group of teenagers trying to snap pictures of Wade. Then she flicks her wrist and causes the shadows of the corner they stand in to shove them to the ground. "That's how we survive for a bit longer."

Wade laughs and jostles her shoulders again. "I do good on my own sometimes," he replies through his laughter. "How do you think I've made it before you?"

Nikki hums in mock thought and snags a subway map from a distracted couple's bag. "Other than your inability to die, I have no idea," she teases flatly as she looks over the map. Deadpool scoffs in stage offence and bumps her lightly with his hip, managing to pull a small smile from his partner in reply. "There's a train that leaves from here and takes us straight to the hotel," she says, tracing the line as Wade takes it from her. Once he has it, the younger merc pulls out her phone and checks the time. "But it leaves in about two minutes."

Wade crumples the map in his fist and shoves it in the side compartment of the duffle. "Well then what are we waiting for!?" he exclaims, shifting from holding her shoulder to grabbing her wrist and running. "Let's go!"

"What do you mean you can't let us in?" the now fully suited mercenary says, throwing his arms up in exasperation as he listens to the doorman. "We have a meeting in ten minutes!"

The doorman, who looks close to wetting himself at this point, lifts a finger to point at a sign on the front door. "I'm s-sorry, Sir," he says as Nikki reads the sign. "W-we have h-hi-igh class gu-guests at-at this es-establishment."

Nikki nods at the final line of the sign and turns her gaze to her clothes. A plain black sweater with dark gray jeans and black boots. Not counting the ratty blue and gray duffle in her hands, which is filled with two extra outfits each and nearly a hundred thousand dollars in cash, she looks pretty decent. After she got in, getting Deadpool in would've been easy. Just get into a room on the first floor and open a window. She guesses that it's the fact that she's associating with Wade that she's being denied entry. "We don't have time for this," she states flatly, lifting her head to look at the nervous doorman. "We have been called here by Quinten Shakes to have a meeting in less than ten minutes. If you make us miss this meeting, I'll make you miss your head."

The doorman swallows harshly and rubs the back of his neck. "I-Im sorry ma'am," he says, refusing to look up at Deadpool. "Buh-but you an-and your father can't co-come in."

Nikki's eyebrows shoot up in confusion and Deadpool's jaw drops under his mask. "Father!?" the mercenary duo ask simultaneously, though Nikki's tone isn't as enthusiastic as her partner's.

"Deadpool isn't my father," the blue-eyed mercenary explains, jabbing a thumb in Wade's direction.

The red clad mercenary nods in agreement beside her. "Yeah," he says. "We're partners, pal. Nothing more."

The doorman glances between the two in shocked confusion. His gaze stops on Wade and his eyebrows pull up in expectancy. "She's a bit young for you, don't ya think?"

Nikki's already raised eyebrows rise even higher and Wade emits a slight choking sound. "Not that type of partner," he explains, grabbing Nikki's hand and leading her down the sidewalk. "Unbelievable..."

The teen slides her phone from her pocket and checks the time. "Five minutes," she reads before sighing deeply. "We're not going to make it."

"To hell we aren't," Wade says, dragging his partner to the alley around the back. He wastes no time leading them to the kitchen entrance and pushing Nikki in front of it. "Pick the lock," he instructs, taking the bag from her and shoving it under the dumpster beside the door.

Nikki sighs and rests her palm on the lock. "This is how low we've fallen," she mumbles as she shifts the tumblers in place. "Sneaking in through kitchens for jobs?"

The lock clicks and Deadpool appears, resting an arm across his partner's shoulders as she straightens. "Aww, don't think of it like that, Saint Nick," he says happily, opening the door and leading her in. "Think of it as a stealth orientation in the mission."

Nikki refrains from stating the obvious about how they haven't gotten the mission yet, making that statement irrelevant. But he's so enthusiastic about cheering her up she just lets it slide. "If you say so," she says, watching for staff as they make their way to the staff elevator. The entire trip up takes less than three minutes and soon the mercenaries are knocking at the penthouse door.

The door is opened by two men in black suits, both of whom grab a mercenary and pull them inside by their shoulders. Once the door is shut, the mercs snap to their senses and don't exactly like the happenings. Nikki jumps up and sends a brutal drop kick to her guy's chest, causing the man to release her and stumble backwards. Wade snaps a fist out and catches the second man in the nose, his head rocking backwards and sending him to the ground. Nikki's man recovers and straightens, earning a roundhouse kick to the jaw from the red mercenary. The man on the ground sits up and earns Nikki's knee to his chin, rendering both men unconscious in under ten seconds.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, fellas!" a vaguely familiar voice says from the other end of the hall, promoting both conscious people to whip around and face it. A man who looks to be in mid thirties with dirty blond hair and dark brown eyes holds his hands in the air to appear nonthreatening. "Take it easy," he says, a definitely nervous smile twitches at the corner of his lips. "They weren't going to hurt you. They just wanted to make sure you didn't hurt me. Check for weapons and all that jazz. You know bodyguards."

Deadpool relaxes almost instantly and a smile appears under his mask. "I take it you're Quinten Shakes," he says, stepping over the men and extending a hand in Quinten's direction. "Nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Deadpool," Shakes finishes, accepting the hand and shaking it twice. "I know. I've been expecting you." His smile turns natural and he directs his attention to Nikki, who still appears pretty tense from the initial introduction. "I didn't know you were bringing your daughter."

Deadpool sighs and Nikki frowns. "Nikki's not my daughter," he explains through a mildly irritated huff. "She's my business partner."

Quinten nods in understanding and looks back to Wade. "Bit young for a hired killer, no?" he asks lightheartedly, his smile faltering when he sees Nikki's frown.

"You need better guards," she states flatly, nudging a piece of hair from her face.

The blond man laughs, nodding in agreement as he looks at his sleeping guards. "I do," he says happily. "Though I doubt I can find anyone who can top your skills."

Wade suddenly gets very friendly and tosses an arm over the client's shoulder. "Don't overestimate us, Shakes," he says, patting his chest with his free hand. "We do have our vulnerabilities."

The employer laughs harder and returns the chest pat, earning a raised eyebrow from Nikki. "You could've fooled me," he jokes, causing Deadpool to laugh with him. Nikki's eyebrow rises higher as she watches the men interact, so friendly despite the circumstances of their meeting. It makes the younger mercenary wonder how people can relax so easily around Deadpool. Especially when they know he's one of the most dangerous people on the planet.

"How can I be so rude?" Quinten says, shifting away from Deadpool to place a hand on his forehead. "I didn't offer you anything to drink or eat or ask if you wanted to sit. I'm the worst!" He slides away and motions the two forward. "Go on in!" he says, gently pushing Deadpool forward as the merc reaches for his partner. "Make yourself comfortable! I'll be back with drinks and snacks in a moment."

Nikki grabs Wade's hand as he's moved forward and follows him in, glancing around like usual for any potential weaknesses. They take their seat on the blue, over plush couch and sink in slightly. "Nikki, we need this couch," Deadpool says, leaning back to sink farther down. "I like this couch. Can we keep it?"

The dark haired mercenary purses her lips in thought and bounces up and down a few times. "I could deal," she says with a nod as she stops bouncing. "It would be nice to crash on. We just need one that's big enough for both of us."

"I could give you their business card,"Quinten says, appearing from the kitchen with a tray of finger sandwiches and a couple bottles. "I'm sure they can help find something for your house."

At the sight of food, Deadpool sits up and reaches for a sandwich as soon as the tray is on the table. "We don't have a house," he explains honestly as Shakes sets the bottles beside the tray. "We have a pretty cool apartment, though."

Nikki lifts an eyebrow and reaches for one of the bottles. "Our apartment sucks," she says, cracking open the bottle of sparkling apple juice in her hand. "Don't lie. You complain about it every other week."

Quinten smiles and sits down in the armchair on the other side of the table. "Well then," he says through his smile, folding his hands together in his lap. "Let's get down to business." Deadpool pauses from reaching for another sandwich and looks up. The blond man turns slightly to look down the small hallway on the left. "Reese," he calls, causing both mercenaries to follow his gaze. "We're ready."

A door opens and two pairs of feet are heard coming down the hall. Wade and Nikki exchange a look then return to the hall as people appear. An older man in a suit similar to the other guards holds the hand of a small child, causing Nikki's eyebrows to rise again. The girl, who looks around seven years old, has shoulder length curly brown hair and brown eyes that light up when they see Quinten. "Daddy!" she calls happily before releasing the guard's hand and running into the client's waiting arms.

"Daddy!?" Deadpool questions loudly, having to be held by Nikki so he doesn't jump up. The guard tenses but Wade ignores it in favor of shouting at Quinten. "What the hell is this?"

The employer shushes the merc and shifts the young girl into his lap, making sure the puffy blue dress she has on is smoothed down. "Language, please," he says in a mild scold, parental instincts clearly kicking in at the foul speak. His smile returns as he turns to the child. "This is my daughter, Zoe," he explains. "She's the reason why I called you here." He returns his smiling gaze to the duo on the couch. "I want you two to watch her for me."


	3. Chapter 3

**I know this chapter is late but I as really busy aall this week. Plus I was really lazy and always wake up really late in the day. Anyhow I'm also applying for jobs and if I get one the posting !y become even more inconsistant. Anyhow I'm sorry.**

 **I own nothing but my characters.**

"No," Deadpool says, shaking his head and waving his arm in rejection. "No, no, no, no, no! Hell no!"

"Language," Quinten hushes again, covering his daughter's ears at the mercenary's foul mouth. "There is still a child in the room, Mr. Pool, and I do not want her exposed to that type of language. That and the fact her mother would have a fit if Zoe were to repeat any of that..."

Deadpool gives him a sour look under his mask and it takes Nikki grabbing his hand to stop him from flipping Shakes the bird. "Fuck you," he settles, causing Nikki to roll her eyes as she sips the juice in her free hand. "We're mercenaries, dumbass. Not babysitters."

"I never said you had to babysit her," Quinten corrects, still holding on to his civil tone. "I asked you to watch her."

Nikki frowns slightly around the bottle before lowering it to her lap. "That sounds like babysitting," she says lazily, causing Quinten to smile in her direction.

"Not at all, Ms. Nikki," he says, lifting a hand to point in her direction. "I have babysitters for her. That's where Reese and...the two others you knocked out...come into play. They are the babysitters. You two are just the enforcers."

"Enforcing what?" Wade asks as Nikki releases his hand, previous annoyance fading into mild curiosity. "The no juice rule?"

Quinten laughs and shakes his head, causing Nikki's eye to twitch in extreme annoyance. "I assure you, it's not like that at all," he corrects again. "I mean keeping the bad guys away."

Deadpool and Nikki share a look before returning to Quinten. "What?" Deadpool questions, completely forgetting he was upset. "Bad guys?"

The employer nods in reply and shifts his daughter to his other leg. "Yes," he says. "As you may be able to tell, I am a very powerful man, which means I have a lot of enemies." He reaches into the pocket on the side he moved his daughter from and pulls out a folded, slightly crumpled piece of paper and hands it to the older mercenary. "I received that a few days before I contacted you," he explains as Deadpool unfolds the paper. "Right after that, two of my prize winning German Shepherds were shot in the head and all of my top chefs were hung."

Nikki leans over to read the paper with him. "I personally would have shoved the chefs in the oven..." she mutters as she tries to read the neatly written letter.

Deadpool laughs quietly and nods in total agreement. He scans the letter a few times before nodding in confirmation. "I can't read cursive," he declares, looking straight at Quinten as he hands the paper to Nikki.

"'We will kill everyone you love,'" she reads, frowning in disgust at the red ink they used. "Are they teachers or something?"

"Straight to the point though," Wade comments as he takes the paper back. "But I was wondering about the red ink myself. Seems a bit high school, you know?"

"I never went to school, Deadpool," she reminds, catching the strange look they get from Quinten as they talk. "So I really wouldn't."

"It is hard to keep you two focused, isn't it?" he asks rhetorically through a smile that makes Nikki want to punch him. "Anyhow, you can see my calls for concern, no?" His daughter slides from his leg and bounces off to her room, the man called Reese not far behind. "That's why I called you, Deadpool. Well, you and your partner, obviously. To protect my daughter and her entourage while on their trip."

Nikki's eyebrow quirks up. "Trip?" she inquires. "What trip?"

Quinten shifts to lean back deeper in his chair. "Due to my current situation, everybody in my family has been ordered to be transported to a secure location at separate times in separate vehicles," he explains through a heavy sigh. "My wife has already been relocated and I'm going after this meeting. Zoe, along with Reese, Desmond, Tyler, and yourselves, will be moved tomorrow. There, my family and I will be locked down tighter than Fort Knox until this whole mess blows over."

Deadpool passes another look to Nikki before returning to the employer. "And what makes you think we're going to accept this job?"

Quinten seems to have been expecting that question because a somewhat victorious gleam shines in his eyes. "Because you came," he answers professionally. "Because I know you have a soft spot for children. And because I'll double the price if you take this job."

Deadpool's jaw drops under his mask and Nikki's eyebrows rise, though her face betrays no other sign of emotion. "Double!?" Deadpool says, practically shouting even though Quinten is right across from him. "That's like..."

"Four point four billion," Nikki finishes, calculating which college she can get into and where they could live for that much.

"Precisely," Quinten says, snapping his fingers and leaning for excitedly. "What do you say?"

The mercenaries lock eyes with each other and Deadpool smiles widely, causing a faint smile to appear on Nikki's face as well. The older mercenary turns his full grin on the employer and holds out a hand. "You got yourself a deal, Quinten, my man!" he declares happily as Quinten takes his hand.

Quinten shares Deadpool's excitement as he shakes the mercenary's hand and rises to his feet. "Very good!" he says as Deadpool rises with him. "Very, very good!" The employer checks the watch on his other wrist and releases Wade's hand. "I have to go," he says in a slight rush. "You're free to stay here if you'd like or you can get a separate room. Charge it to my account and order whatever you want from room service. All I ask is that you keep weapons away from Zoe and watch your language if you stay in the room." He starts down the hallway as he talks. "Thank you again! I don't know how else to repay you!"

"Just make sure the check clears and we'll call it square," Nikki responds as she listens to a door open and Quinten start cooing at his daughter.

Deadpool extends a hand in her direction and she takes it. "You are so mean, Nick," he says through a smile as he helps her up. "And greedy."

Nikki manages another small smile at her partner's joke and rises to stand beside him. "I'm not greedy," she counters, releasing his hand and folding her arms across her chest. "I'm business oriented."

Deadpool laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her in for a side hug. "That's one way to look at it," he says through his chuckles as Quinten returns. "We're going to get our own room, Q-Man," he states, earning a confirmation nod from Nikki as he does. "Where do we do that?"

Quinten smiles as if he were expecting that response and pulls a card from his pocket. "Go to the front desk and hand them this," he explains as the men by the door start to stir. "Tell them you want another room and put everything on this tab."

Nikki plucks the card from the man's grip and reads it, nodding at the valid information and shoving it in her pockets. "We'll do that now," she says, glancing at the waking guards from the corner of her eye. "Thank you."

"Thank _you_ ," Quinten repeats genuinely, clasping his hands together in front of him gratefully as he eases around them toward the door. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Deadpool lifts his free hand and waves it dismissively. "Don't mention it," he says joyfully through a grin, he and Nikki turning to the door to watch him leave.

"I'll be keeping in contact as often as I can," the other man continues, now in the door hallway and stepping around the dazed guards. "Reese will keep me updated on the progress as the days go by and I'll call everyday once I get locked down."

Nikki huffs through her nose. "A bit obsessive," she mutters earning a nudge from her partner's hip.

"I gotta roll," Quinten says, not hearing Nikki's comment. "I'll call Reese later tonight."

"Have a good trip!" Wade says, lifting his free hand and waving once. "See ya soon!"

"See you soon," the employer replies before heading out. The door shuts and the guards awaken fully.

They take one look at the mercenaries and stiffen, scooting back toward the walls once they start toward the door. Nikki can tell they're not scared, just angry with bruised egos. She sends a tiny, smug smirk in their direction and winks as her partner opens the door. "See you tomorrow," she says teasingly and the door shuts in their face.

Six hours, two arguments with clerks, three room service carts, and half a mini bar later, the two mercenaries lay exhausted in bed. They had very little rest in the past week, going straight from one mission to the next without a chance to rest. They took full advantage of the consistently hot water and tiny soap bars, each taking showers that exceed an hour each and using every small toiletry the hotel offered. Once cleaned, the mercenaries flopped on the over-stuffed couch and flipped aimlessly through the variety of channels on TV. The would occasionally stop on a newscast or ID channel special, but nothing really caught their attention. After about an hour of that, the two decided to call it a night and hit the hay.

Now they lay in the same bed out of pure habit, not used to having individual rooms or beds to sleep in. Deadpool lays on his back, arms folded under his head as he stares at the ceiling through unmasked eyes, having been all too willing to toss his suit in the complementarity washer. Nikki curls on her side and faces the wall away from her partner, one arm folded under her head and the other draped carelessly over her side.

"We didn't get the chance to ask who wrote the letter," Nikki says after a few minutes of unbroken silence. "I meant to, but shit was happening faster than I anticipated."

Wade hums in acknowledgement and looks at her from the corner of his eye. "I know what you mean," he says, a touch of thoughtfulness in his sleepy tone. "The handwriting seemed familiar, but all cursive looks the same to me. So I didn't really care too much."

"Do we still have the letter?" she asks, shifting to look at him over her shoulder. "I could send it to that dude in the FBI who owes us a favor and have him run it through the handwriting software they have."

Deadpool hums in thought and nods in agreement. "Alright," he says after a second. "Sounds like a plan. We can send it out when we leave, find the threat, and eliminate them."

"Sounds like a plan," his partner repeats before they lapse into another momentary silence. "Have you thought about how we're supposed to get weapons and other supplies before we leave?" the black haired teen asks, eyes fading in and out of focus from the rising exhaustion. "We can't just do this mission half-assed with no guns."

Wade smothers a yawn and unfolds an arm from his head, using the hand to reach over and rub his partner's shoulder. "I have it under control," he ensures, unable to smother the second yawns as he speaks. "I already called my contact on this side of town," he says, eyes falling shut as he talks. "We're going to meet up with him in the morning."

"With the kid and the guards?" Nikki asks, feeling her own eyes growing heavy as time passes. "Isn't that a bit risky?"

Deadpool releases a tired hum of agreement and moves away from Nikki to refold his arm under his head. "It is, but we don't really have a choice," he says, words slurring slightly as he slips off to sleep. "So I told the contact to wear a mask to avoid being identified..." He releases another heavy yawn before turning face the wall away from Nikki and tucking both arms under his head. "Everything will work out, Nixon," he assures tiredly. "Don't...worry...about..."

Nikki smiles faintly as her partner's loud snoring fills her ears. Her eyes shut not long after he drifts and another yawn pushes from her core. "Night, Wade," she mumbles as she fades out. "I guess..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Im sorry for the late posting. I have made the executive decision to post the chapters every two weeks instead of every week because typing on a tablet is difficult and it doesn't stress me out as much. Indo have two other stories too, so it allows me more time to work on tthem all too. Soo yeah. Enough with my talking. Onto said chapter.**

 **i own nothing.**

The sun is barely in the sky when the transport group mobilized. Zoe didn't wake up when called the first time, so one of the guards had to carry her when they moved. All six people walked toward the designated transport vehicle, a black, four-door GMC with almost illegally tinted windows that made Nikki huff when she first saw it. "How stereotypical can they be?" she muttered to her cleaned-suited partner as they approached.

Deadpool nodded in agreement as he shifted the then recently reclaimed bag higher on his shoulder. "They might as well written 'come kill us' in neon," he said as he watched as the guard called Reese carefully shifted Zoe into her car seat and buckled her up.

Nikki gave one hum in reply before she turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye. "I call shotgun," the younger merc declared as she reached the passenger door and grabbed the handle.

Of course that declaration was met by some protests from everyone but the driver in the remaining group, but everything was silenced quickly once Nikki clenched an annoyed fist and causes the morning shadows the form spears at their throats. After a two minute talk down from Deadpool, the shadows receded and they got finally got situated and moving. Desmond took the wheel with Nikki obviously in the passenger side. Reese stays beside Zoe in the second row of seats and Deadpool spread out beside Tyler in the very back. Before they officially started the trip, Deadpool lead Desmond to a sketchy, under the bridge setting a few hours away and met with his masked contact for weapons.

This is where they are now.

Nikki leans against the passenger door of the car as she stands outside just a few yards away from where Wade and the contact converse. She watches with a mild interest as she brushes her teeth, breaking down the name, weight, purpose, shot count, and range of each weapon that appears and disappears in the back of the trunk. She sees her partner's excitement from under his mask and almost smiles, mentally comparing him to a kid in a candy store. Then she mentally scolds herself for using that classic metaphor.

The teen spits out another foamy mouthful and reaches behind her for the half-empty bottle of water to rinse her mouth. "Would you tell your partner to hurry up," Tyler demands from in the car, leaning over the second seat to call from the window. "We're on a deadline."

Nikki swishes a few more times before spitting that out and turning to face him. "This is a delicate operation, sir," she explains calmly through a frown. "One wrong word with this guy, everyone, except Deadpool, ends up dead." Tyler looks like he's about to say something, but Deadpool calls her over before he does. The younger mercenary smirks at the guard and sends a wink in his direction before tossing her toothbrush in her seat and pushing off the car toward her partner.

The contact looks up from the trunk at her approach and Nikki watches as his mouth pulls up into a joyful grin under his mask. "Little Nikki!" he says excitedly, throwing his arms up for a hug when she stops beside Deadpool. The contact closes the distance and throws his arms around her shoulders, rocking from side to side with his excitement as he hugs her. "I haven't seen you since you were hip high, riding around on Deadpool's back."

The teen sighs through her nose at the unwanted physical contact, but forces a small smile for the old aquaintance. "Hey, Chester," she says, lifting a hand to pat his back twice before he releases. She steps back discreetly as he turns back to the trunk and she shifts to peek inside. "What do you have for us today?"

"Only the best for you two," Chester replies, grabbing a hidden handle and pulling up. A second compartment opens underneath the first and Deadpool's eyes widen in excitement. Semi and fully automatic assault rifles, sniper rifles, police sanctioned, pump action shotguns, desert eagles, and so much more. Deadpool grabs Nikki's shoulder and holds a fist to his mouth as he tears up through his mask. "Take your pick," Chester invites, motioning to the array as if he were on a game show.

Ten minutes, two semi-automatic rifles, a sniper rifle, a shotgun, a desert eagle and three Bowie knives later, the mercenaries bid their weapons dealer farewell and head back to the car. Chester was kind enough to throw in a hundred rounds of ammo for each gun for free and he passed Nikki a pair of brass knuckles with it. Their hundred thousand in the bag was shrunk down to their last two thousand and the empty space is filled by their weapons and ammo supply. Reese politely told the duo to store the bag in the trunk and away from Zoe or else they won't move, so the did as told, each sliding a knife into their boot just before they do. Nikki also shoves her brass knuckles into her pocket before hopping back into her place in the front.

Then the group is back on the road, no one talking save the man on the radio station Desmond flipped to. After a while, Nikki sighs through her nose and closes her eyes, trying to tune out the most recent shootout that is discussed on the station.

It doesn't feel like a long time has passed before someone taps on the window and startles Nikki back to awareness. The teen raises a fist and nearly punches the glass before she processes her the familiar red face of her partner. "Wakey, wakey, Nikki-poo!" he says excitedly as he pulls her door open. "Zoe woke up and had to pee, so we're at a rest area!"

Nikki sighs through her nose and lowers her arm slowly, using the newly relaxed hand to grab the handle and open the door. "I wasn't asleep," she responds as she slides from the car. "I was ignoring the radio."

"Well you did a good job of tuning everything else out too, Nikki-roo," the older mercenary says through a mask covered smile. "Tyler's been asking for help from you for a while. All you did was sleep."

The younger merc frowns slightly as she shuts the door and stretches her arms over her head. "Not sleeping," she says again, dropping one arm to her side as they start toward the rest area. She squints under the gleam of the near afternoon sun and uses her other arm to shield her eyes from the light. "And what did he need help with?"

Deadpool's smile widens and he lifts his arms in a shrug. "Apparently I have personal space issues," he says nonchalantly, though Nikki knows the tone he uses hints at smugness. "It's not my fault he's insanely hot."

"He's pretty average to me," Nikki responds, raising a puzzled eyebrow at Reese and Zoe standing beside the women's bathroom.

"You're too young to know about attraction anyway," he says, earning the same puzzled look from Nikki.

"I'm nineteen."

"Too young."

"What's this?" Nikki asks Reese as they come within earshot, completely ignoring Deadpool's previous statement. Her gaze turns to Zoe, who dances eagerly with a hand between her legs and a desperate look in her eye. "What's with Little Bo Pee? Why can't she...go?"

"I was waiting for you," he explains, extending the hand that holds Zoe's toward her. "Take her to the bathroom."

Nikki raises an eyebrow in expectancy and drops the shield arm to her side. "Not my job," she counters. "Plus I don't need to go. Just let her go."

"I can't," the older man explains, still holding the hands out. "I can't be in there with her, so I can't respond if anything happens. You are a female, so you can go in and watch out for her."

The teen inhales deeply and rolls her eyes. "I don't do the hand holding shit," she says, reluctantly heading for the bathroom door. "Let her go." Reese hesitates before releasing the young girl's hand, allowing Zoe to race past Nikki into the bathroom. Nikki passes a look to Deadpool as the young child disappears inside. "You blow anything up, I'll disown you."

Deadpool frowns deeply under the mask and sniffles slightly. "You never let me have any fun," he complains as he turns to the men's bathroom.

Reese's brows furrow together questioningly and he looks to Nikki. "He doesn't have anything that blows up," he says as Nikki turns to the bathroom. "How cold he blow anything up?"

Nikki releases a single, amused huff from her nose and glances at him over her shoulder. "You obviously don't know Deadpool," she replies before entering the bathroom.

The younger mercenary is surprised at how clean the bathroom looks as she scans the immediate area for any threats. Two old ladies, a couple of chatting teenagers and three women all go about their business in the decently spaced area, leading Nikki to believe Zoe's the one in the only closed stall in the back. She smothers a yawn and hops up to sit on the counter. She earns a few disapproving glances from the old ladies and women, but she ignores them by pulling her knife from her boot and cleaning her nails with it. That certainly got everyone moving faster and soon it's just Nikki and Zoe left in the bathroom.

The toilet flushes and the door unlocks, revealing the sleepy eyed Zoe as Nikki suspected. Zoe smiles brightly at Nikki as she walks toward the sink, watching as Nikki tucks her knife safely back in her boot. "Hello," the child says happily, finally looking away as she reaches up and turns on the water.

Nikki bites the inside of her lip to keep from frowning at the child's enthusiasm. It's too early for this level of joy in Nikki's mind, even though it is almost eleven in the morning. She can barely handle all of Wade's energy when she first wakes up, so adding a child's energy would usually be out of the question. But seeing as it is only a small child and she doesn't want to seem like a total bitch during the official first meeting, Nikki forces a smile and nods in Zoe's direction. "Hello."

Zoe's smile seems to widen as she finishes washing and turns off the water. "Who are you?" she asks, grabbing a handful of paper towels from the tray beside the sink. "Reese says you and your dad are here to help us."

Nikki's eyebrow twitches in annoyance at the repeated mistake. "Deadpool isn't my dad," she replies, fighting to keep her voice level and nonchalant. "And yes, we are here to help."

Zoe smiles as she dries her hands with the wad of towels and tosses them in the nearest trashcan. "Thank you," she says, moving to stand in front of Nikki with a hand extended. "My name is Zoe."

Nikki bites back the rude comment about how she already knows her name and instead reaches out and takes the small, still damp hand. "Nikki," she replies. "You're welcome." She releases the hand after two shakes and slides from the counter. "Let's go," she says, leading the way toward the door. "I'm getting hungry."

Zoe gives an enthusiastic agreement at the statement and bounces out when Nikki pushes the door open. Reese leans on the wall between the bathroom, only half listening to the mercenary beside him. "Ah," the guard says, pushing off the wall as Nikki and Zoe exit. "Good. Now we get go."

"Reese I'm hungry," Zoe comments, taking her place beside Reese and grabs his hand.

"You are?" Reese asks, leading the child toward the car as Nikki and Deadpool linger behind. "Well, maybe Deadpool can drive us somewhere to eat."

Nikki raises an expectant eyebrow in her partner's direction. "You're driving?" she asks, earning a nod from Wade in reply.

"Yup," he replies, taking a casual pace as he walks with his partner. "Tyler said he doesn't want me back there with him anymore and Desmond doesn't want to drive. So we switched and now I'm driving."

The younger merc hums once. "Do you even know how to drive?"

Deadpool scoffs in mock offence and bumps her with his hip. "Of course I know how to drive," he retorts through a smile as they reach the GMC. "I drove that bus away from Hulk that one time didn't I?"

"I don't think that counts," Nikki replies lazily, glancing over at Reese strapping Zoe in. "You almost crashed that bus then the teacher shot you in the head... Then the bus still flipped."

Desmond shifts from the back seat and tosses Wade the keys, earning a nod of thanks from the mercenary as he heads toward the driver's seat. "That's not my fault," he counters as Nikki pulls her door open. "The Hulk was riding my ass for eight miles and he destroyed the road. Plus the teacher was an ungrateful bitch."

Reese inhales heavily as he finishes buckling Zoe in and turns to face Deadpool. "I'm pretty sure Mr. Shakes told you about your poor language," he comments passive aggressively as he hooks himself in. "Need I remind you we have a child in our midst?"

"Lighten up, Reese's cup," Wade says as he and his partner climb in their respective seats. "It's just words. Why make 'em if you can't say 'em?"

He jabs the key into the ignition and starts the car, causing Nikki to hook her seatbelt and lock it in place. "You might wanna hold onto something," she informs to the rest of the passengers in the car. "This man's insane."

"Not that insane," Wade responds through a maniac grin and sifting the car into gear. "Just determined to get paid." He presses down on the gas with the same smile. "You still might want to buckle up, though."

Thirteen hours, three pit and gas stops, seven debate about "appropriate road trip music" later, Deadpool pulls into the first designated checkpoint. Nikki's eyebrows pull together in suspicion at the darkened building and grabs Deadpool's hand when he shifts to park. "You feel that too right?" she asks, scanning the shadow layed area around the car.

"The feeling that something is really off here?" Wade responds in mild sarcasm before shaking his head. "Nah."

Seatbelts click off in the back and cause Nikki to twist in her seat. "Don't get out of the car," she instructs, unbuckling her own seatbelt and reaching for the handle.

Deadpool reaches out and grabs her other shoulder before she has a chance to open her door. "You don't get out of the car either," he says, clicking his own belt off and opening the door. "I'll check it out."

"No," the younger merc denies, drawing out the final syllable and pulling him back. "You're the driver. You need to be ready to move if something goes wrong."

"I'm not letting you out the car, Nixon."

"You're not the boss of me, Deadpool."

Tyler leans forward from the farthest back seat. "Why do we need to case the place?" he asks, causing both people in the front to turn around. "It's a safe house. They know we're coming."

"Then why is everything dark?" Nikki counters, motioning to the blackened windows. "Someone would've been up to greet us if everything was going well."

Wade nods in agreement. "That's why I'm going in to-"

"No," Nikki rejects again. "I'm going to check the place."

"I have a healing factor. If anything pops out to kill me-"

"I'd see it before it did." The black-haired mercenary motions a hand to her face. "Night vision, remember."

"Why don't you both go in?" Tyler inquires from the back. "It would settle-"

Something large lands on the hood of the car and causes everyone to jump, Nikki and Deadpool whipping back around just in time to see the body slide down, leaving a thick, crimson smear that marks the trail the head took. The mercenaries stare a few seconds before Deadpool closes his door and takes a grip on the wheel. "This is why we don't go in dark places!" he announces, shifting into reverse as Nikki climbs to the back seats. "We need guns, Nick!"

"Working on it," Nikki replies, gripping the middle seat to help her balance when Deadpool floors it in reverse. She narrowly avoids kneeing Reese in the head as he leans over to cover the very confused Zoe when she leaps to Tyler and Desmond's seat. "Outta the way, Rent-A-Cops," she says, kneeling on the seat between them to lean into the trunk. She barely has a strap in her hand before she lifts her head to look out the back window. "Person!"

That's all it takes for Wade to slam on the brakes, causing Nikki to jerk forward and slam her face against the back window. The car stops and the momentum sends Nikki tumbling backwards to get stuck in the space between the floor and seat. She ignores the concerned looks from the two in the seats beside her and groans, blinking rapidly to clear the stars from her vision. "You alright, Nikki?" her partner asks, turning to look at her and out the window.

"Fine," she grumbles, pulling on the middle row headrests to get up. "I left the guns in the back. Where's the person?"

"Still there," Tyler answers, watching the figure as they slowly approach the car. "They're coming."

Deadpool smiles hopefully and lifts his gaze to the back window. "Maybe they're friendly!"

The figure lifts their arm and aims a high caliber pistol in the car's direction. Nikki sits up higher and starts for the trunk again. "I don't think so."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello readers! I have made another executive decision about posting! From now on, I'll be posting whenever I want as long as it doesn't exceed two weeks! It really helps me et through terrible writers block, weekly shit, and other stuff that factors into me not writing! Mainly laziness! But shit gets done! Anyway into the chapter! Thanks for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

 **I own nothing!**

Three bullets hit the trunk door and rear windshield, causing everyone in the car to duck and cover their heads. Zoe starts screaming when one of the bullets slams into the seat in front of her, easily going through the material and piercing the passenger side dashboard. Nikki rises from the floor in the back and leans over the seat to get into the trunk, scrambling to grab the bag. She finally grabs the handle and shifts to lift it just as another bullet pierces and shatters the window, raining tiny pieces of glass down in the trunk. The bullet itself whizzes by and slices Nikki's cheek, causing the young mercenary to cry out and jump back. She keeps her hold on the bag, though, and the heavy duffle falls into her lap.

"Move!" she barks, cupping her unoccupied hand to her bleeding face. "Drive the damn car!"

Deadpool shifts the car back into drive and slams his foot on the gas, throwing Nikki forward and causing her to slam her face against the back seat. "What's going on back there, Nick?" he asks, earning an unseen glare from the teen as she pushes away from the seat.

"Who was that?" Tyler asks, stopping the bitter response Nikki had cooking up. "I thought this was supposed to be a safe house!"

Nikki shrugs and returns her gaze to the bag. "Apparently everyone did," she grumbles as Reese tries to console Zoe. "Plans change." She grabs a semi-automatic from the bottom of the bag and locks a magazine in place before she turns to look at Reese over her shoulder. "What's the backup?"

Reese continues to pat Zoe's back as he glances back at the teen. "We don't have one," he says, sorrow clear in his tone. "This was supposed to be the safest place for us for the night."

Deadpool surprises everyone when he releases a few, genuinely amused laughs from his spot in the front seat. "That's terrible planning!" he declares through his joy. "Even I know better than to do something as stupid-"

Another bullet slams into the dashboard from the windshield, leaving a decent sized hole in the sturdy glass. Zoe screams louder and Nikki's ears ring, causing the teen to grit her teeth in mild annoyance. She understands that kids are scared of loud noises and bullets, but Nikki never understood why. Then again, she was created to be a weapon of mass destruction, so that could be it.

"Problem!" Wade shouts as three more vehicles appear from the back of the building. "Nix!" he calls, picking up speed to get ahead of them. "Where are we with those guns?"

The teen grabs another pistol and makes her way back to the passenger seat, frowning in displeasure at the cars in the sideview mirrors. "Where did these assholes come from?" she asks half-rhetorically as she rolls down her window. "Everyone stay down. I'll take-"

Tyler cries out and clutches his shoulder, a heavy stream of blood pumping from under his hand. "I'm hit!" he declares as more bullets slam into the car.

"Wonderful," the teenage mercenary says coldly, dropping the pistol in Wade's lap and planting her feet on the seat to turn her back to the window. "Don't get shot again. We might need you."

"Might!?" Tyler repeats as Desmond pulls him down. "What does she mean by might?"

Nikki pushes herself up and slides out the window, stopping just before she falls and sitting up on the window frame. She tucks herself forward when a few bullets are aimed in her specific direction before straightening and pulling the rifle up with her. She doesn't bother trying to take aim at the enemies behind her. Between the violent movements of the car angling around stuff and the unevenness of the terrain, she knows she'll never be able to line up any decent shots and take them before the conditions change. So she just holds the gun somewhat steadily, pulls the trigger, and hopes for the best.

The shooters for the other side, who are sitting exactly like she is on the window frames, curl away from her semi-decently aimed gunfire, and some actually fall from their designated vehicles from being hit. Of course more people practically leap up to take their place, but Nikki counts thinning the crowd out as a small victory.

The replacement shooters seem to have better aim than the first, causing Nikki to practically crawl back in the car to avoid their fire. Luckily for her, her partner sticks his arm out his window and takes aim with his own pistol from the side mirror. He fires once and hits the driver of the first vehicle directly in the center of his forehead.

The dead driver slumps backward in his seat and drops the wheel, almost causing the vehicle to spiral out of control had it not been for the passenger's quick reflexes. The passenger keeps one hand on the wheel as he leans across the dead body beside him and opens his door, shoving the corpse out and taking his spot without so much as a blink. Deadpool's jaw drops open at the sight and he retakes his arm to help steer out of a particularly large tree. "It's like they're fucking machines or something," he shouts to his partner, glancing over and spotting her uncurl and lift the gun again.

"It's good programming," she calls back, pulling the trigger and successfully shattering the back car's windshield. "If they don't have any emotional attachment to one another, then they don't have any reason to mourn or get revenge because of their deaths. Meaning death of a comrade means nothing to them."

Deadpool frowns at the explanation and pulls the car onto a barely visible, nearly abandoned dirt bike trail. "According to that," he starts over his partner's fire. "Then I have terrible programming."

Nikki smiles at Deadpool's words and manages a few, quick, unseen nods of agreement. "Same," she says, taking out two of the gunmen. She opens her mouth to respond again, but one of the shooters fires and manages to graze her lower back, sending white hot agony through her entire body. The teen arches against the pain and barely pulls herself together to avoid getting her head taken off by a tree.

Trying to ignore the burning, Nikki lines up another shot and fires. She hits the front tires on the driver and passenger side and waits, a touch of shock easing into her being when nothing happens. "Shit!" she shouts sliding back into the car when too much gunfire is concentrated in her direction. "They must have those fucking tires that let you drive fifty miles on a flat!"

Deadpool hums in thought and nods in approval. "These guys are good," he says in a proud tone that makes Nikki really want to punch him. "What now?"

Nikki shrugs and checks the clip of her gun, frowning at the half empty clip in her hand. "No clue," she says, replacing the clip and scooching forward in her seat. "I'll go out and kill them I guess."

Desmond sticks his head up from the back seat, making Deadpool and Nikki remember the aren't the only ones in the car. "Nikki can move the shadows, right?" he asks before ducking away from bullets again. "Why don't you just do that!?"

The mercenaries blink in stunned realization before Nikki turns to face him. "How did you know that?" she barks, jumping back when a stray bullet slams into her headrest.

"Not the time, Nick," Deadpool calls, pulling the steering wheel in the direction of a particularly dark spot of the road. "Go do your thing!"

Nikki grunts in reply and sets her rifle on the floor between her legs before she pulls both back into the seat. She waits for a temporary break in fire before climbing back up to sit on the window frame. "Alright, bastards," she mutters, clenching and relaxing a fist in a way that makes the shadows beside them pulse as if alive. "Time to go."

She opens the hand and lifts her arm, causing the shadows to rise and solidify into small walls behind their car. It doesn't stop the pursuit, but it causes the shooters to stop firing and hang on to the cars to not fall out as the drivers swerve to avoid them. She slashes the arm down diagonally and the shadows react, the walls lashing out like whips and tearing strips away from the enemy vehicles. Four of the shooters are torn apart and thrown from the cars, earning a victory smirk from the teen as she watches her chaos.

Using both hands, Nikki clenches two fists and throws them both above her head, forming thick, black spikes that rise from the ground. One car gets impaled on the formation and tears in half, both sides falling uselessly to the ground. Nikki opens her hands and slams her palms on the top of her car, causing the spikes to flatten out and crush the fallen car and anyone still hanging out the windows. Two cars remain in action though, and Nikki sighs, feeling her energy draining from the probably showy use of her powers. To end the chase for good, Nikki holds both hands close to her body, palms outward facing the cars. The shadows form a large wall in front of both enemy cars and tips over when Nikki pushes her hands out. The cars screech and swerve in attempt to avoid being crushed, but are too slow and hesitant and end up flattened anyway.

Nikki sighs through her nose and flicks her wrist, sending the shadows back to their natural positions. She leans forward to rest her head on top of the car, but the torn skin on her lower back screams in protest and she arches backwards instead to relieve some of the pain. Once the burning agony shifts into a throbbing sting, Nikki relaxes and slides back into the car.

Her partner slams a hand against the steering wheel and whoops in joy, pure excitement clear even through his mask. "That was great!" he says, earning the silent 'are you fucking kidding me' look from everyone who isn't sobbing. "It's been a while since my last car chase! I almost forgot what it felt like!"

Nikki sighs and leans forward, trying to relax in a way that doesn't irritate her back. "It hasn't been that long," she says, nudging the rifle to the side with her leg. "Remember Italy about a week ago?"

"Oh yeah," he says in remembrance, glancing in the rearview mirror at the recovering back seat riders. "How's everything back there?"

Reese sits up first, uncovering the still sobbing, but otherwise unharmed, Zoe and rubbing his head. "Other than Tyler being shot, I think we're fine," he informs, earning some form of confirmation sound from both of the other guards. "How're you guys?"

"Don't worry about us," Deadpool says with a nonchalant wave of the hand, turning the car around back to the building and road. "We're peachy."

Nikki nods in agreement and pulls down the passenger visor, flipping open the mirror to examine the cut on her face. "Right as rain," she says flatly, flipping the visor back up and leaning against the window with a huff. "We need to get somewhere safe."

"Is there anywhere safe?" Desmond asks, applying pressure to the wound on Tyler's shoulder. "This safehouse was supposed to be our best bet. We don't have anywhere else to go."

Deadpool snorts in sarcastic amusement as they reach the house and start down the line driveway. "You all might not have another crash place," he starts, eyes still alert for any surprises. "But Nikki and I have plenty of safe houses!"

The younger mercenary sighs and lightly taps the area around the cut on her face. "I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to tell anyone about those," she says with a wince when the wound starts to sting. "But since it's already blown, which one are we going to?"

Deadpool opens his mouth to respond, but only ends up crying out in pain when two bullets punch through the windshield and lodge themselves in his chest. The red clad mercenary slams on the brakes and almost sends Nikki out the front, had it not been for her planting her hands on the dash. "Some of a bitch!" Wade shouts, leaning forward and hitting his head on the wheel. "Damn! What the fuck was that?"

Nikki recovers from her sudden surge forward and lifts her head, spotting the first shooter from earlier emerging from the trees. "Forgot about him," she says flatly, lifting a hand and making the shadows into a wall as the shooter fires again. "Whoops." She flicks a hand and the dude is sent flying, smacking against a thicker tree and falling limply to the ground. The teen shakes her hand out and all the shadows return to normal, leaving an uneasy stillness in the air.

Deadpool hacks from the driver's seat and lifts his mask, spitting blood and both bullets on the floor between his feet. "Blech," he says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before pulling his mask back down. "That did not feel good."

"Didn't sound like it did," his partner responds, pulling her door open and stepping outside. "Desmond, help me get the guy to the car," she orders as she steps out.

The uninjured bodyguard's eyebrows shoot up in mild horror as he watches the smaller mercenary walk from the car to the shadowed area the shooter fell. "Is she serious?" he calls up to her partner. "She can't be serious, can she?"

Deadpool grins and turns to look at him. "She's serious," he assures. "And you better hurry, she gets pretty upset when she's impatient."

Desmond swallows nervously and releases, Tyler's shoulder, ignoring his pained hiss while climbing over the seat. "These people are insane!" he whispers to Reese as he passes him.

Reese shakes his head and continues to pat Zoe's back as she sobs. "No," he says, watching Desmond exit and walk to Nikki. "They're our best options..." The older guard watches from the window as Nikki and Desmond argue for a few seconds before Nikki raises a hand and levels a shadow spear at his throat. Desmond lifts his hands in surrender and Nikki nods in approval, lowering her hand and allowing the shadows to recede. Reese's eyes widen in shock at the sudden mood change in the teen and watches as Desmond crouches down to lift the unconscious shooter. "Ok..." he starts as Desmond hauls the man over his shoulder and walks to the car. "Maybe a little insane..."

Deadpool laughs at his statement and unlocks the trunk when Nikki and Desmond walk around the back. "Nikki's focused, dude," he corrects, watching from the rearview as Nikki opens the trunk and Desmond tosses the man in. "Not insane... Not that insane I mean." He turns his gaze from the mirror to him as the teen closes the trunk. "She's kind of messed up..."

Reese nods and watches her as she walks back to take her place back in the passenger seat. "I can tell..." he mumbles as Desmond climbs back in and over the seat.

"Let's get going," Nikki sighs, shifting so she doesn't lean against the seat when Deadpool starts driving. "We need to patch Tyler before he bleeds out."

"You and I both know he won't bleed out from that wound," Wade comments, sending repeated glances over at his partner. "Don't scare the kid."

Tyler snorts offendedly from the backseat. "I'm pretty sure I'm older than Nikki," he says. "I'm not a kid."

Nikki rolls her eyes and sighs, exhaustion and leftover adrenaline starting to take its toll on her. "I'm beat," she says, resting her head on the window and closing her eyes. "Wake me at the safehouse."

"Will do, Nikki-poo," Wade says with a mock salute. "Have a nice nap." He earns a half attempted grunt from his partner before she shifts a bit more and her breath evens out. "Now to remain inconspicuous..."

Another seven hours pass before a tap on the forehead pulls Nikki awake, face throbbing and back sore. "Time to get up, Nicholas," Deadpool says, extending a hand in her direction. "Can you walk?" The teen releases a string of slurred grumbles and Wade furrows his brows in confusion. "I'm going to take that as a no," he answers, leaning into the car and hooking an arm around her shoulders.

Nikki shakes her head and lifts a shaky hand to push him away by the face. "I got it," she slurs groggily, finally getting around to forcing an eye open. "Where's everyone else?" she asks, leaning forward and hissing when her bloody back peels away from the leather seat.

"Inside," he explains, unhooking his arm and stepping back. "You didn't stir when I called you the first eighty times. So I got everyone else in, locked our prisoner to a pole in the basement and came back for you now."

A tired groan rolls from Nikki's core and ends in a pained whine when her back wound pulls. "Shit," she huffs, relaxing the stretch and turning to face the open door. "I must've been out of it."

"You were," Deadpool confirms, helping his partner down and out of the car. "I was pretty sure you were dead for a while there. Then you moved and I was OK."

"Glad to see you still care," she says, finally feeling the full effects of the graze wound when she stands up straight. "Shit that hurts," she hisses as Wade leans back to examine the wound.

"Looks like it would," he agrees, shifting back to look at her face. "When did that happen?"

Nikki yawns and shrugs, starting for the abandoned house they called safe. "Sometime during the fight," she says as they walk up the pathway to the door. "Didn't think it was necessary to bring up at the time."

Deadpool snorts in amusement and climbs the single stair to the front door. "You never do," he comments, opening the door and stepping aside to let Nikki in. "We need to look at that."

"Tyler first," she rejects, spotting the still whining guard on the living room couch being soothed by his friend. "Little bitch can't handle a shot." She starts up the stairs in front of the door and glances back at her own partner. "I need to shower."

"Be careful," he comments turning to the kitchen on the left. "If anything falls, I'm coming up there." Nikki grunts a tired reply and a door shuts upstairs.

Deadpool moves across the kitchen to a cabinet beside the fridge and pulls it open, reaching in and grabbing a curved needle, medical thread, rubbing alcohol, gauze, cotton balls, and medical tape before nudging the door closed. With the armload of medical supplies, the mercenary starts back to the living room. "Alright, Ty-Ty," he says, entering the area and setting the stuff on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Time to take care of that nasty little bullet hole in your arm."

Tyler looks nervously at the array of equipment on the table as Deadpool sits beside Desmond. "Uhh," he starts, eyeing Wade fearfully as he leans forward to grab a cotton ball from the bag and the bottle of alcohol. "Have you done this before?"

"Of course!" Deadpool confirms happily, opening the bottle and pouring some alcohol on the cotton ball. "Do you think Nikki and I just heal magically? Take off your shirt."

Desmond frowns and watches over Wade's shoulder as his partner pulls off the blood soaked jacket and shirt. "You do," he says, wincing sympathetically when Deadpool dabs the entry wound on his back with the cotton. "Nikki doesn't. So I assume that when she can't do self surgery, you stitch her up yourself."

Deadpool raises a suspicious eyebrow at the guard's knowledge and holds Tyler's other shoulder when he tries to squirm away. "How come you know this stuff?" he asks, continuing to clean the wound as Tyler continues to whine. "I mean, her powers are one thing, but now you're talking about her medical habits? Where are you hearing this?"

An almost embarrassed look forms on Desmond's face and he smiles sheepishly. "Well...uh..."

Tyler hisses when Deadpool hits a particularly sore spot and huffs. "He Googled Nikki," he blurts through tightly gritted teeth. "That's how you guys got this job in the first place."

Deadpool frowns and raises an expectant eyebrow. "Oh really?" he says, applying a bit more pressure to the wound than necessary. "Why's that?"

Tyler whines and attempts to pull away from Deadpool's grip. "Stop!" he says over the sound of a door opening upstairs. "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Traitor," Desmond mutters in defeated annoyance as Reese pads downstairs.

"Zoe's asleep," he informs, peering down at the group from half-lidded eyes. "Nikki is in the shower. I'm hungry and- What is going on here?"

Deadpool releases his death grip on Tyler and goes back to lightly cleaning the wound. "Tyler got shot," he explains through a smile. "I'm helping him."

"Really?" Reese asks, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to look at him. "That's what's going on here?"

"Well it isn't a porno so I'm going to go with yes," Deadpool responds. "You're hungry?"

The older guard passes a suspicious look to everyone in the room and hums in disbelief. "Yeah," he answers after a second. "Do you have anything?"

Deadpool hums in thought and moves to reach for the table. "Probably not," he says honestly, dropping the bloodied cotton ball on the table and grabbing the needle, thread, and the alcohol. "We haven't needed to use this safe house since Nikki was a kid." He dumps some of the alcohol on the needle and sets the bottle back on the table. "There might be some cans of tuna that haven't expired yet. You can check if you want."

Reese sighs deeply and shakes his head, turning to walk into the kitchen on the other side of the stairs. "I guess I can check on that," he says. "Since you three are busy..."

Deadpool nods as he threads the needle and grabs Tyler's shoulder again. "Hold still," he instructs, lining up the needle for the first stitch. "This part's gonna suck."

The needle goes through and Tyler cries out, tensing violently and trying to pull away again. "Shit!" he practically shouts, having to be held still by Deadpool again. "That hurt!"

"Told you," Deadpool says through a laugh as he continues to stitch. "Keep still or else it'll be worse."

"Not really," Nikki says from the stairs, drawing everyone's attention to her. Desmond and Tyler avert their eyes when they see her clad only in basketball shorts and a sports bra, but being used to her, Deadpool simply continuously switches from holding eye contact and watching his stitching. Nikki tears open a large band-aid wrapper, tossing it away before placing the band-aid over the cut on her face. "I could do it and he'd never know what happened."

Tyler looks like he's about to protest, but Deadpool releases his arm before he has a chance. "Cool," he says, leaving the needle in the incomplete stitch in Tyler's arm and standing up. "I need to stitch you up anyway. It could be a sewing line!"

Nikki shrugs and moves to take Deadpool's spot as he moves to the kitchen. "I showered," she assures as the guards shift in slight awkwardness. "So don't worry about infections and shit."

Desmond clears his throat as Nikki the stitching Wade paused. "Where's your shirt?" he asks, clearly deciding to go the quick and painless route.

The black-haired teen finishes tying off a stitch as Deadpool returns with a new needle. "Upstairs," she replies removing a hand from her work to motion to her back wound. "I'm not gonna ruin one of the few good shirts I have because I'm bleeding."

Deadpool grabs the alcohol and another cotton ball from the bag and sits down on Desmond's lap. "Now that that's cleared up," he says, pouring some alcohol on the cotton and setting the bottle back on the table. "We can move on to more important topics. Like why Desmond Googles Nikki."

Nikki's eyebrows rise in surprise and starts tying another stitch. "That is a good question," she agrees, feeling the couch shift as Desmond does awkwardly. "Why does Desmond Google me?"

Desmond shifts awkwardly as Deadpool uses the cotton ball to sanitize the needle and tosses the ball aside. "I admire your work," he lies terribly as Wade starts stitching Nikki's back. "So I did my research..."

"Bullshit," Tyler says. "You've been looking her up ever since you saw her and Deadpool on the news that one day." He turns slightly to look at the other two over his good shoulder. "When Quinten said he needed bodyguards, Tyler almost begged him to pick you two. Well...to pick Deadpool at least. He knew Nikki would come if he did, so he didn't even need to say her name."

"That's creepy," Wade says, pausing his stitching to look back at him. "You do realize she's only nineteen, right?"

Nikki nods and tugs another one of Tyler's stitches closed as Deadpool resumes hers. "Plus I'm not into sex and relationships," she continues, causing Desmond to cough awkwardly again. "So you're shit out of luck, man."

"It's not like that!" a now very red-faced Desmond exclaims, sending an almost awkward silence over the room. "I just like how she fights!"

"Great," Reese says, finally returning from the kitchen empty handed. "Now that we know everyone's unnecessary personal information, can we please talk about the attack tonight?"

Deadpool frowns and lets go of a stitch to point out the window. "It's eight o'clock in the morning," he says before continuing to stitch his partner. "I don't know about you, but I'd like to sleep for a bit."

Everyone in the room releases some sort of sound of agreement and Reese sighs. "Fine," he says as he starts back upstairs. "I guess we can take care of business later. Good night everyone."

The quartet on the couch say their goodbyes and Nikki sets the needle on the table to grab a gauze pad and the medical tape. "Now you have to turn around," she instructs as she places and tapes the pad in place. "I need to get the exit wound." Tyler shifts in place hesitantly, hands wringing themselves in mild terror. Nikki frowns and folds her arms over her chest. "Either you turn, or I move in front of you."

Tyler does as told, rising from the couch before turning and sitting back down. He folds both legs under himself and tucks his hands under his legs in a prisoner of war position. Nikki raises an eyebrow and leans over to the table to grab another cotton ball and the bottle. "You look absolutely pale," she comments, soaking the ball with the alcohol and putting the bottle away. "Did you get shot somewhere else or something? Did you lose more blood than we thought?"

Tyler shakes his head, making a point to keep his eyes anywhere but Nikki. "No," he replies quickly as Nikki starts dabbing the wound. "Just...not trying to get shot."

Nikki's eyebrow raises higher as she finishes cleaning. "What do you...oh..." She moves to put the ball on the table and grab the needle. "You're uncomfortable about my having no shirt?"

Tyler looks like he's about to deny, but sighs after a second and nods. "Yeah," he says while Nikki starts stitching. "Yeah I am."

Deadpool snorts and finishes the stitches on Nikki's back. "Well, your tramp stamp is finished," he announces, earning an elbow to the stomach from Nikki in reply. He laughs and covers his work with a larger gauze pad, taps it, and rises from Desmond's lap. "I'm going to bed," he announces, stretching his arms over his head and allowing Desmond room to stand himself up. "Come up when you're ready, Nix. I'll get Dumb and Cuter settled in a spare room and I'm clocking out."

"Sounds great," she calls as he and Desmond start up the stairs. "I'll be done with Tyler in a minute."

Deadpool makes a sound of approval as he and Desmond disappear up. Tyler turns his head to the stairs then back forward, still expertly avoiding Nikki's eyes. "So..." he starts in the same awkward tone as before. "Are you and Deadpool..."

"Partners," she states through an annoyed huff. "Business partners."

Tyler nods in understanding and Nikki starts the final stitch. "Close friends, too," he adds.

"Obviously," she responds, setting the needle aside after a second and moving to cover the wound. "You're done. Don't get them wet and don't pop them." Tyler nods and Nikki stands and starts for the stairs. "I'm hitting the hay I suggest you do the same."

"Right behind you," he says, rising and following Nikki up the stairs. "Where's my room?"

Deadpool pokes his head out a door and points to the door across from it. "You and Desmond are over there," he says as Nikki approaches him. "Night guys."

"Night," Tyler calls as he enters his room.

Nikki and Deadpool enter their own room and shut the door. The younger of the two yawns loudly and walks to the full sized mattress on the floor and flops down face first. "I'm so tired," she complains, feeling the bed bounce when her partner does the same.

"Then sleep," he says, feeling himself fade away. Nikki gives a half-hearted groan in reply and soon they both fade off, ever so grateful for the blackout curtains they put up.


	6. Chapter 6

**HHello readers! Thank you for all your reads,follows, and favorites! If anyone is still here, thank you! If not...well...I figure that out later. Anyhow thanks agaim.! Onto the chapter! I own nothing!**

The meeting is held later that day, the sun already starting its descent when everyone starts to wake. Everyone minus Deadpool, that is. Both Desmond and Tyler attempted to wake the red mercenary after Nikki emerged from their room but she had to go back in after Tyler said he got threatened with a gun. Once everyone is halfway coherent and semi awake, Reese calls Quinten and puts it on speaker. After a few rings, he answers.

"Reese?" he says, confusion and a bit of annoyance lining the edges of his voice. "What happened? You were supposed to call as soon as you got in the safe house."

Deadpool snatches the phone from the older guard's hand and lifts it closer to his face. "The safe house was made," he states, the tired from earlier taking away any hope of sounding threatening. "Someone killed everyone in there and they waited for us."

Tyler leans toward the phone in hopes of being heard despite him being on the other side of the room. "I got shot!" he shouts, half whiny tone making Nikki roll her eyes.

"Really!" Quinten says, genuine concern and shock clear in his tone. "Is Zoe alright? Did anyone get killed?"

"Zoe's ok," Reese assures, taking the phone back from Deadpool. "But Nikki and Tyler were injured."

Nikki shakes her head from her place on the couch beside Wade and crosses her legs. "I'm fine," she assures, leaning back against the couch. "So's Tyler. He's just a bit of a baby."

"What's with these guys anyway, Q?" Wade asks, taking the phone back. "They act like they haven't been in a fight in their lives!"

There's a moment of silence before Desmond sighs. "I haven't," he admits earning all attention to him. "I don't even like violence."

Nikki frowns and Deadpool's jaw drops completely open under his mask. "What the fuck!?" he shouts before turning to Tyler. "What about you?"

The second man shrugs nervously before redirecting his nervous eyes to the floor. "I'm a pacifist."

The black haired teen raises an eyebrow and looks toward the phone. "Mr. Shakes," she starts calmly. "Where did you hire your men?"

Another moment of silence before a deep sigh on the other end of the line. "I found them at the mall," he responds. "They're mall cops. Not supposed to be violent."

Deadpool shouts a few curses and Nikki plucks the phone from his hand. "Why?" she asks. "You said the people that were after you are dangerous. So why hire nonviolent men to protect your daughter?"

"Because I didn't want to scare Zoe," Quinten states. "It's bad enough Deadpool is there. I didn't want any other big, terrifying people around my daughter. I didn't know they weren't the fighting types, though. That was a total accident."

Deadpool takes the phone back from his partner. "Off the topic of your stupidity," he starts, earning a sharp glare from Reese as response. "Nikki and I are going to do the rest of this job on our own."

Reese shakes his head. "No you're not," he counters defensively. "I'm not leaving Zoe alone with you two."

"Reese is right," Nikki says, much to everyone's surprise. "We can't keep an eye on a kid and fight if need be. It takes too much time. Especially if we're trying not to get the kid taken or hurt while we work. Sticking her in a closet every time won't do much if something explodes or a stray bullet goes through the door." She turns her attention to Deadpool. "We need people to watch her and make sure she gets out without wandering into anything. Plus it's easier to just avoid hitting certain people rather than make sure certain people don't get hit."

"That doesn't make any sense," Wade grumbles in defeat before turning his attention back to the phone. "We'll keep the dorks," he says. "But we're doing things our way. No mystery safe houses. No gun restrictions. Just me and Nick calling the shots and doing whatever we need to do to get these idiots to wherever the hell we need to get them. Got it?"

"Sounds good to me," Quinten responds. "Just...keep Zoe safe."

Nikki nods and takes the phone back. "Everyone will be fine," she ensures. "Call you when we can." And with that, she hangs up and hands the phone back to Reese. "What next?"

"We take a day and rest," Wade says, offering Nikki a hand to stand beside him. "Hit one of our weapons stashes. Pick up a few things. Give your scratches a bit more time to heal."

"Get some food," Nikki interjects, grabbing the offered hand and standing. "I'm a bit hungry."

There's a chorus of agreements from the other men and Deadpool nods. "Take some of the money from the bag and go to the store," he says, dropping her hand and turning back to the stairs. "I'm going to grab a few things from upstairs. I'll toss you down a shirt while I'm up there."

"Thanks."

Reese lifts a hand in the air and clears his throat. "Not to burst anyone's bubble," he starts. "But we still have a man in the basement."

Nikki and Deadpool exchange a look of remembrance. "Oh," they say simultaneously.

The older guard passes an expectant look between the two mercenaries. "Well?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "What are you going to do with him?"

Deadpool shrugs. "Probably kill him," he responds, earning a look of annoyance from his partner in reply.

"No," she shoots back. "We're going to question him. Figure out who's coming after us and where they are." An almost pleading look forms under Wade's mask and Nikki sighs in defeat. "Then we'll kill him..." she huffs, causing her partner to cheer excitedly.

"The bastard shot me," Wade defends upon receiving a curious look from the two younger guards. "I need revenge."

Nikki rolls her eyes and waves him away. "Go get my shirt," she say, lifting her other hand to poke at the band-aid on her face. "I can't go until-"

"What are we going to do while you two are gone?" Desmond asks. "I mean, you don't expect us to just wait here while you two go out, do you?"

Deadpool shrugs. "Yeah, actually," he says, earning an agreeing nod from Nikki. "We did."

"You can't go with Deadpool to the weapons stash," Nikki continues, shifting a hand to rub a sore spot on her face. "I don't really want you coming to the store with me..."

Desmond huffs and passes a look between the two. "Are you serious!?" he asks,causing the mercenaries to pass a strange look to each other. "You can't just leave us here! What if someone comes for us! What if the guy gets out of the basement and tries to kill us!"

Nikki frowns in annoyance and sighs through her nose. "Look, kid," she says to the guard. "Deadpool and I have everything covered. The guy downstairs isn't going anywhere. You're basically in the middle of nowhere in one of the best safehouses we got on this side of the world. No one's looking for you, and even if they are, they're not going to find you."

"Yeah," Wade agrees, leaning on the railing but having to straighten when it rocks forward. "So just sit down and read something until we get back."

The teeanger raises an eyebrow in confusion and turns to look at her friend on the stairs. "We don't have anything worth reading..." she stage whispers to her partner. "This isn't the safe house with my books in it..."

Deadpool shrugs and finally continues going up the stairs. "I'll dig up some of my old boobie mags," he says dismissively with a wave. "They'll be fine."

"You're not giving people your old porn to read!" she calls after him flatly, earning mildly disturbed looks from all the men in the room. Wade gives a barely attentive grunt from the top of the stairs and Nikki sighs again. "You're not getting old porn," she assures the still weirded out men around her. "If anything, I'll leave a few car instruction books or something."

"Or you could just take us to the store," Desmond suggests sarcastically. "That could be an option."

The teen rolls her eyes and watches her shirt flies down the stairs. "Tyler's shot. I'm probably wanted dead or alive in every country from here to Russia. I'm a bit off my game from last night's shit. We're on a budget. Plus, I don't take requests." She walks over and grabs her shirt from the ground and shakes the dust off of it. "If anything were to happen, I can't guarantee everything will go well."

Reese ponders the thought and sighs. "I can't argue with that," he says defeatedly. "Fine. Bring me the car instructions."

Nikki tugs her shirt on and glances up as her partner walks back down the stairs. "I found some!" he declares proudly, holding up a handful of magazines. "Who wants-"

Nikki throws the box of gauze pads they left on the table last night at her partner before he can finish his sentence. Wade ducks as it whizzes by his head, sending a half hurt look in her direction from under his mask. "Come on, Knick-Knack," he whines as she approaches. "They need something to do."

"They can talk," she says, snatching the inappropriate magazines and shoving them in the back of her pants. "They can clean our weapons. They can do a lot of things beside read smut."

Small footsteps pad down the stairs behind Deadpool and he turns to look, causing Nikki to lean over slightly to see behind him. "Can I have breakfast?" Zoe asks, curly hair wild around her head. "Please?"

Tears appear in Deadpool's eyes and he grins widely. "Yes you can!" he cries happily, turning fully to lift Zoe into his arms. "You can have anything you want sweetie!"

Nikki rolls her eyes, but a faint smile twitches on her lips. "Alright, big guy," she says, lifting an arm and placing her hand on his shoulder. "Time to let go. We have stuff to do."

"What do you gotta do?" Zoe asks, turning her still tired looking eyes to Nikki from Deadpool's other shoulder. "Can I come?"

"Well-"

"Of course you can go with her!" Deadpool exclaims, holding her out at arm's distance. "She'll take you with her!"

The teen raises an eyebrow and Wade turns his head to look at her, silently pleading with her to give Zoe whatever she wants. Nikki pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs deeply, hating the words before she says them. "I guess she can come..." she states reluctantly, earning a joyful noise from Wade in response. "Get your shoes on, kid, we leave in-"

"Whoa," Reese says, holding up a hand to silence their conversation. "She's not going anywhere without me."

Nikki huffs again and turns to look at him. "Look dude-"

Desmond steps up to stand beside him. "Or me."

"Same here," Tyler says, standing on Reese's other side. "We're her guards after all."

Nikki's eyebrows rise in shock before they pull together in annoyance. "You guys can't fight," she starts. "You don't like violence and you probably don't even know how to shoot. If anything goes wrong, you're useless."

The guards open their mouths to protest, but a sudden voice calls and cuts them off. "Hello!" it shouts, causing Wade and Nikki to exchange a look. "Hey! I know you're still here! I'll talk! I'll tell you anything! Please! Hello!"

Deadpool sets Zoe back on the stairs and follows Nikki down, passing an apology to Zoe over his shoulder and a promise of ice cream or something else. The mercenaries make their way down to the basement and and stop in front of their prisoner, Nikki already awakening the shadows in case something or wrong. "What?" Wade asks, causing the man to stand and press himself closer to the pole he's tied to.

"I'll talk!" he says again. "I promise! Just don't hurt me!"


	7. Chapter 7

**To whowever is still here, I'm sorry! I have a job now, and it consumes all my time! So I barely had a lot of time to write! Either way, I can't make any promises about when the next chapter is coming. Anyway, thanks for sticking around and all that fun stuff. Onto the chapter!**

 **I own nothing**

Deadpool and Nikki exchange a suspicious look before leveling their gazes on their captive. "You'll tell us anything?" Wade inquires, an eyebrow raised curiously under his mask. "Why?"

The man, who honestly doesn't look any older than Nikki, tears up when he speaks again. "Cause I don't want to die!" he pleads, voice breaking with poorly withheld tears. "I just took the job because it paid well! They never told me I was supposed to kill anyone! I don't want to kill anyone!"

Nikki inwardly rolls her eyes and sighs through her nose, lifting her hand to stop his ranting. "Calm down, kid, we're not going to hurt you." She doesn't turn her head, but she feels her partner's questioning look burning into the side of her head at her words.

Hope quickly fills the captive's eyes and he shifts from his sitting position to a kneel. "Thank you!" he shouts, more tears pouring from his eyes from his uncontained joy. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Once again, Nikki holds her hand up to stop him and sighs. "Don't get your hopes up," she states. "You still have to tell us what's going on."

Deadpool steps up and folds his arms over his chest. "Yeah," he says in a tone Nikki recognizes as a fake threat, but the way the kid tenses, she knows he thinks it's real. "Otherwise we'll have to hurt you."

The young shooter cringes back and presses himself closer to the pole, watching warily as Nikki roughly elbows her partner in the ribs. "He doesn't mean that," she grumbles irritably. "He's just an ass."

The captive passes another uneasy look between the two mercenaries before relaxing slightly and trusting Nikki. "You're Deadpool," he states, voice wavering slightly as he stares at the red suited mercenary.

A prideful smile pulls up Deadpool's lips and causes him to puff out his chest a bit. "That is right," he says happily as Nikki huffs and rolls her eyes. "I take it you heard of me."

"Yes," the kid says with a quick nod. "You're the merc with a mouth. You can't die and you're one of the most annoying people in the world."

The ego that was built crumbles before Nikki's eyes as she watches her friend's head deflate. It takes all she has not to laugh as Wade's shoulders slump forward and his smile falls. "Is that really what they say?" he asks defeatedly, causing Nikki to snort involuntary.

"Don't worry," she says, lifting a hand to pat his back. "I don't think you're annoying."

A still saddened smile twitches on the corner of his lips as he looks down at his friend. "Thanks, Nickel," he says, smile growing into a grin when Nikki gives her own small smile at him. "Anyway!" he says, recovering quickly and turning back to the boy. "Back to more pressing topics!"

Nikki switches her hand from patting his back to pushing him back by the chest. "I'll talk to him," she says, not moving her gaze from their prisoner. "You go get the stuff from the storehouse and the grocery store."

She moves to take a step forward, but is stopped when Deadpool clamps an arm on her shoulder. "Hell to the no," he says, spinning her around to face him. "I'm not leaving you alone with this guy. He could be dangerous."

"I'm not!" the shooter assures, pulling the duo's attention away from each other and back to him. "I'm not dangerous! I can barely even shoot a gun!"

Nikki emits a deep groan of annoyance before rolling her eyes back to Deadpool. "Is no one able to do anything these days?" she mutters in agitation before running a hand through her hair. "I'll be fine, Deadpool," she says, ever so careful to avoid using his real name. "Just go. Take the kid and the dorks out for a bit and I'll relate the info later."

Wade passes her another hesitant look before the basement door opens again. "Hello!" Zoe calls from above, causing the hesitation to fall from Wade's face and be replaced by joy. "Are we still going?"

Deadpool spins around and bounces up the stairs, sweeping the child up into his arms as he reaches the top. "Of course!" he cheers, earning excited giggles from the child as he nudges the door shut with his foot.

The black-haired teen pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs in heavy annoyance as she listens to the group upstairs walk around then the front door close. "He seems..." the young shooter says, pausing to clear his throat and test his boundaries. "Different..."

Despite her slight annoyance, a faint smirk twitches on her lips and she releases a pleased sigh. "I guess," she says, letting go of the bridge of her nose and turn back to face him. "But he has good intentions."

"You two make a good couple," the other teen says, causing Nikki's smile to fall instantly. "You seem to have a well established relationship."

"We're not dating," Nikki says curtly through a heavy sigh of agitation. "We're just business partners." The kid opens his mouth to speak, but Nikki cuts him off before he can. "What's your name?"

The make falters and clears his throat again. "Ryan," he says, watching Nikki carefully as she moves to stand in front of him and crouches down. "Ryan Hunter."

"Unfitting," Nikki responds through a yawn, now balancing steadily on the balls of her feet. "Considering the fact you can't even hunt." Once again, Ryan opens his mouth to speak, but Nikki cuts him off. "Who do you work for?"

Ryan pauses to think. "I don't know," he says, earning a narrow eyed look of suspicion from Nikki in reply. "Really!" he says, panic starting to ease its way back into his tone. "I found the ad on Craigslist! The little footnote said I had to be willing to go to jail and I couldn't ask any questions!"

With her eyes still narrowed, one of Nikki's eyebrows rise in the same disbelieving manner. "Really?" she asks with a touch of sarcasm swirling in her tone. "And you never once thought 'gee, this sounds sketchy as hell. Should I really be doing this?'"

Struggling to do so around his bonds, Ryan shrugs nervously. "I mean, of course I did," he starts hesitantly. "But the pay was great and the hours were flexible. The only thing I really had to do was show up, get a gun, and shoot at whatever moved. I didn't know it would be Deadpool." He pauses and offers a weak, very nervous smile to the mercenary. "Plus, not many people offer jobs to convicted criminals anymore."

Nikki ponders his reason before passing him an understanding nod as reply. "I got you," she says, earning a surprised eyebrow rise from Ryan in response. "But they didn't say anything else?" Ryan shakes his head. "No hints at a leader?" Another head shake. "No mention of any reason why they want the kid and her family dead?" Yet another head shake. The black haired teen groans in defeated annoyance and drops her chin to her chest. "Damn," she huffs, tossing her head back to look back at Ryan. "Do you at least remember the place you meet these people?"

Ryan twitches his head to shake before stopping. "Actually," he starts, staring off into the distance thoughtfully. "I do."

This sparks some hope in Nikki and her eyes widen in slight surprise. "Really?" she asks, earning a few excited head nods from Ryan in return. "Where?"

"I forgot the actual address," he admits quickly. "But I can get us there if we start driving."

"We can't start driving until we have a direction, smart ass," the female snaps before regain her anger. "Sorry."

The captive teen shakes his head dismissively. "You've had a rough night," Ryan says. "You probably need to let off steam."

Nikki's eyes narrow dangerously. "Don't play therapist with me," she practically spits, causing Ryan to cringe away as best he can. "We aren't friends."

"I'm sorry," he says, voice wavering again in terror. "I just-"

"Stop," the young mercenary interjects, pushing down on her knees to rise from her crouch. "I have to talk to my partner before we make any other moves." She turns and starts toward the stairs, pausing just before she steps on the bottom one to go up. "If you have any poison, spit it out," she orders coldly, barely turning her head in his direction as she speaks. "If you swallow it, I'll bring you back...and you won't like it."

Ryan doesn't answer and Nikki continues up, finally allowing herself to feel the back pain crouching caused. It wasn't long, but enough of her back muscles tightened to allow her to remain still that when she stood, every ounce of pain from the previous night returned. She reaches the top of the stairs and opens the door, quickly getting out and kicking it closed before clutching her back tightly and letting out a slow hiss.

"Son of a bitch," she whispers, turning and heading for the kitchen. Keeping a hand defensively on the small of her back, Nikki walks into the dirty cooking area and straight for the small medical cabinet. She nearly rips the door from the hinges when she opens it and knocks everything useless aside in her search for pain medicine, almost sighing in relief when she finds a bottle of Advil. The teen dumps three small pills in her hand and tosses them in her mouth, swallowing them with a few handfuls of metallic tasting water from the tap.

Just as she finishes downing the pills, her cell phone rings in the living room, earning a tired sigh from Nikki in reply. She pushes herself from the counter and makes her way to her phone. "What?" she asks, not bothering to check the ID as she answers her phone and holds it to her ear.

"How much do you know about pool installation?" Deadpool asks, of course earning a tired sigh from Nikki in reply. "We went to Sam's club and they have a huge pool on sale, Knick Knack! We have to get it!"

"It's on sale because it's almost winter, jackass," the teen replies, failing to stifle a yawn that snuck up on her. "We're not getting a pool. We don't even have a house to put it in."

"But we could!" he counters excitedly, apparently dropping his phone in his joy due to the clatters and static that follows. Seconds pass before he comes back. "What's happening on your end?" he asks, causing Nikki to roll her eyes in reply.

"He doesn't know the name of the organization he worked for or why they want Zoe and her people dead," she sums, turning and flopping backwards onto the couch. "But he does have a faint idea where he was extracted from. So if we go there, I think we can find them."

"How'd he even find these assholes?" Wade asks, grunting with effort on the other end.

"Craigslist."

A pause. "I believe it."

"Uh huh,"Nikki replies, propping her feet on the cluttered coffee table. "So I'm thinking we get Weasel involved and-"

"Fuck Weasel," he says before lapsing into a round of frantic apologies to Zoe.

"What's wrong with you now?"

"He refuses to do anything for me ever since I shot his friend a while back," he explains innocently. "It was justified though! He was coming at me!"

Nikki rolls her eyes and yawns again. "Then we'll get in touch with someone else," she counters through her breath. "Either way, we can back trace the Craigslist ad and-"

"I'll have to call you back, Nixon!" Deadpool says, a slight hint of worry ringing his voice. "I think there's a free sample of pizza bagels on the next aisle! I gotta get there before this old lady does! She's been eyeing me weird ever since I walked in!"

The teen opens her mouth to respond, but the line disconnects just before she could. "That's cause you're in a mask, dummy," she huffs, clicking off on her end and tossing her phone on the couch next to her. "But of course, you think she's after your pizza bagels. No one wants your pizza bagels, Wade. Stop talking to yourself, Nikki."

She releases another heavy sigh and leans back, tensing and arching when her stitches pull. So she shifts and lies on her side to face the back of the couch. "Nap time," she yawns, allowing her eyes to fall closed and her body to relax.

"Heeeyy!" Ryan calls, voice muffled but heard through the floor. "I gotta take a piss! Can I get a bottle?"

Yet another annoyed sigh before Nikki peels her eyes open. "I'm not cruel," she reminds herself quietly as she pushes herself to a kneel. "I'm not cruel."


	8. Chapter 8

**i understand I can't keep making excuses for uploading late, but hear me out. I've been working and we just got a new do we needed to settle in. So yeah. It's mainly work that drains me. I'm sorry. Onto the chapter.**

 **I own nothing.**

Deadpool and the others return not too long after the bottle incident. Nikki refused to say why she was scrubbing her hands with the bristle brush from the kitchen, but she kept saying how much she hates the hostage. The rest of the group helped haul in the groceries they overstocked on, or brought in a bag or two of the weapons Deadpool got from the stash nearby. The two mercenaries divide the weapons and ammo amongst themselves as the civilians prepare lunch,Tyler and Desmond almost shitting themselves when Nikki smiled excitedly at a case of hollow point bullets. Once everything settled down and everyone had a decently sized plate of hot food, Nikki summarizes her talk with the hostage.

"So basically," Wade starts around a larger than necessary mouthful. "This Ryan kid wants us to drive around following his vague directions until something clicks? That's bullshit."

"Language," Reese says just before his bite hits his tongue. He pauses a moment to chew and swallow before continuing. "But he does have a point. We're supposed to be heading toward the safehouse, not wandering around out in the open. The longer we take out here, the greater the chance of something happening to Zoe."

"Nothing's going to happen to Zoe," Deadpool assures, passing a glance to the child eating a peanut butter sandwich at the kitchen counter. "Neither of us would let that happen."

"We wouldn't get paid otherwise," Nikki mutters, earning a sharp elbow from Wade as a response. "Either way," she says louder as she rubs her sore arm, already feeling the early stages of a bruise forming under the skin. "We need to find out who's attacking the family and why."

"That's our second priority," Reese says, dabbing a bit of sauce from his lip. "Our top-"

"Is getting Zoe to the safehouse," Wade interrupts, his tone letting Nikki know that he's rolling his eyes. "We're getting there. But we'll get there faster if we don't have big ass guns butt fucking us in every state."

This time it's Nikki's turn to elbow her partner. Not that she minded his crude language, she's dealt with him for going on thirteen years now. It's for the fact that she had to do something to keep from laughing at Reese's face. "I think it's time for us to chill," she says, watching the older guard's face turn a stunning shade of red. "We've been so wired up about just everything lately-"

Tyler lifts his uninjured arm to interject. "It's only been a couple days," he says, earning a roll of the eyes from Nikki in response.

"So I think we should take a few days, teach the three Stooges a few things about fighting, get another car, and see if we can get more information from Ryan."

The guards exchange a look of skepticism and Reese sighs in defeat. "It's a good plan," he admits. "But-"

"No buts!" Deadpool declares, leaping up from his seat and almost knocking Nikki's plate from her hands. "Nikki's plan is good! We're going to chill!"

"That's not going to happen for long!"

The mercenaries pause and rise, both heading for the basement stairs at a quicker than normal pace. They take the stairs at a near jog and stop expectantly in front of their captive. "What the hell are you talking about?" Nikki asks, folding her arms as best she can with her plate in her hand.

Ryan winces at the harsh bite in her tone and tries to scoot closer to the pole. "Uhh," he starts nervously, genuine fear in his own voice. "The people that hired me...know I'm here..."

Another expectant pause from the mercenaries and Ryan swallows harshly. "I forgot to mention another part of the little footnote..." Nikki cocks an eyebrow. Ryan shifts a bit and exposes the flesh on the inside of his right arm.

It's a bit bruised, but Nikki chalks it up to her lashing out a few nights ago. Her partner leans forward and squints, shaking his head slightly after a second of nothing. "I don't get it," he says at the exact moment Nikki's face changes.

"He's being tracked," she almost whispers, pointing at a small, greenish pinprick just above the crook of his arm. "That type of device...day, day and a half time frame..." Her grip on the plate fails and it shatters on the floor, the sound barely being processed as she races back up the stairs. "Grab your shit!" she calls when she reaches the top. "We gotta-"

The window a few feet in front of her shatters and a small black oval hits the ground, barely giving Nikki enough time to shield herself before the grenade explodes. Zoe screams somewhere outside of the shadow-formed shield, but it sounds distant to the teen. Everything is ringing.

When her shield goes down, her eyes water from the dust and smoke created from the blast, causing her to choke and gasp on the hot air. A person climbs in the window, gun already aimed at Nikki as soon as their feet hit the ground. The soldier tightens his finger around the trigger and Deadpool appears between them, taking the shot for his partner as she goes for the knife in his boot. Wade goes down with a grunt and Nikki leaps over him, lightly landing in front of the new attacker and driving the blade into their forehead.

The body drops with a hollow thud, allowing the teenage mercenary a view outside the window. Two trucks full of people dressed like the one on the floor skid to a stop beside the one already parked, the soldiers jumping out just before the wheels stop moving. Another window shatters in the living room and Zoe screams again, the sounds being followed by a harsh stream of swears from Tyler. Nikki runs in and takes aim, launching the blade at the invader and catching him in the center of his chest. Surprisingly, the attacker only stumbles back a few steps and takes aim at her, causing Nikki to swear and drop under fire.

She rolls to the nearest couch and covers her head, feeling the material tremble harshly with each shot. After a few seconds, the gun clicks and Nikki moves again, vaulting the couch and launching herself at the attacker, batting the spare gun from his hand as soon as he lifts it. The teen then grabs the handle of the blade and yanks it out, pulling a pained yelp from the man's mouth. Nikki switches to an offensive hold and grabs his shirt, pulling him forward to run the blade across his neck.

An arch of crimson sprays from the line on his throat and the attacker falters, stumbling backwards into the wall. With a panicked shutter, the man slides down the wall, leaving a bright red trail staining the dirty, gray wall. Nikki huffs and whips around, taking in the varying degree of shock and panic setting in on everyone's face. "Grab whatever you can carry," she orders coldly, turning back and crouching down to take the enemy's weapon. "We need to move now."

Two more windows break upstairs at the same time Wade comes in, tossing away the bullet he coughed up earlier. "Get them out," he orders, catching the gun Nikki tossed and the extra ammo that goes with it. "I'll clean up upstairs."

Nikki nods and switches her knife to another defensive hold. "You heard him," she says, rising and glancing out the window as another row of attackers advance. "Get to the garage."

"You have a garage?" Desmond asks, pulling the petrified Tyler toward the teen by the arm. "When were we gonna hear about this?"

"When it became necessary," the black haired teen replies flatly, waving the group toward the basement stairs. "Which it basically just did." They pass the first broken window and Nikki lifts an arm, forming a thick, black wall to block the view. Multiple bullets slam against the wall, but simply drop to the ground after contact. The combined weight on the stairs almost makes Nikki think they're going to collapse, but then she remembers all the other stuff the entire house has been through and calls it OK.

Ryan is squirming on the floor when they arrive, looking as close to wetting himself as he ever was. "Holy shit man!" he cries fearfully, watching Nikki point to a door in the back through tear clouded eyes. "You can't leave me!"

Desmond scoffs as he continues to guide the shell shocked Tyler through the basement to the door. "To hell we can't!" he counters defensively. "You got us in this mess in the first place!"

"We're not leaving him," Nikki says, walking behind Ryan and using Deadpool's blood covered knife to saw through the binds on his wrist. "He's still useful." Ryan turns to thank her, but the blade of her knife appears in his face and holds his tongue. "But if you try anything, I'll cut pieces off. Which pieces will be up to how I feel at the moment. Understand?" The captive nods once in reply and the knife disappears, Nikki turning and rising in the direction of the door. She doesn't turn around, but she definitely hears Ryan's frantic footsteps behind her.

The four others stand around a car, two of which frown at the nearly decrepit appearance. "This is what we're riding in?" Desmond asks, eyeing Ryan hesitantly as he enters the two car area. "Seriously? It looks like it'll fall apart as soon as we start it!"

"It's a classic," she says, crouching down and grabbing the spare key she and Deadpool duct taped in a wheel well a while back. "And it's our only option." She clicks the unlock button and receives silence as a response. So she clicks it two more times before smacking it against the palm of her hand. "Damn batteries," she grumbles, using the actual key to unlock the doors. "Get in," she says, walking around to the driver's side of the junker minivan.

The three people not in hysterics over the fire fight pile in the car and help the others, everyone muttering their displeasures multiple times. Having grown used to constant complaints about her methods, the teenage mercenary ignores them and starts trying to turn the car on. Once. Twice. Thrice. A swift punch to the dashboard. "Come the fuck on!" Four. Catch. Engine on.

Nikki's lips twitch with the beginning of a satisfied smirk as three gunmen appear in the doorway. "Thatta baby," she says proudly, yanking the car in gear and presses down hard on the gas. More bullets rain down on the car and the people in the backseat duck in fear, Desmond having to drag Tyler down when he refuses to move.

"He's in shock!" he calls, trying to be heard over the crunch of metal when the driver plows the car through the closed garage door. "What do we do?"

"You've never dealt with a shock victim?" the teen asks calmly, making a sharp turn around one of the large trees that litter the barren yard. "Warm him up, lay him in the back, unbutton his shirt and calm him down."

"Where's Deadpool?" Reese asks, shifting over to allow Desmond room to get Tyler in the farthest seat in the back. "He's supposed be-"

A loud battle cry cuts off his sentence and draws everyone's attention to outside. A large something lands on the roof of the car and Deadpool nearly rolls off the back, having to scramble for purchase on the dust coated van. Desmond cries out when Wade accidentally shatters the back windshield and uses his body to shield Tyler, earning a slight wince of apology from the merc.

"My bad," Wade says, climbing in and over the two back rows of seats. "Hey! You're a good guy now!" he congratulates as he passes Ryan, stepping on his knee a he takes his rightful place in the passenger seat. "What's going on Chex Nix?"

"We have to get the device out of Ryan's arm," she states, weaving around one of the outermost enemy cars. "This safe house got blown because of it and who knows what else it can do."

Wade smiles sadistically and pulls another knife from his boot. "I'm on it," he says, shifting to move backwards before Nikki pushes him back the a shove to the face.

"Not yet, jackass," she hisses, quickly replacing her hand on the wheel when she almost hits another tree. "You try cutting in the car and something jerks, you could slice a vein and we lose our only hope for information on these ass clowns."

Ryan gives a quick chuckle at the scenario and takes a firm grip on his seatbelt. "You like insulting people with ass don't you?" he says, seemingly trying to ease the tension with a horrible joke. "You say it a lot."

Deadpool and Nikki exchange a look of annoyance and share an eye roll. "Shut up," they say simultaneously, Wade yanking the wheel toward him to avoid hitting an enemy car parked farther away.

"Where are we going?" Nikki asks, flicking her wrist to use the shadows to flip the enemy car into a tree. "Cardinal direction only for now."

"Uuuhhh!" Ryan starts, racking his brain for anything useful. "West!"

The driver makes another sharp turn and they're in the forest, smaller trees and shrubs long down under the speed, force, and weight of the vehicle. "We're gonna ditch these guys," she announces, glancing out the rearview to see if they're being followed. "Switch cars, and get that stupid shit from Ryan's arm."

Deadpool nods in agreement and looks around the car. "Where's the guns?"

"In the back," Reese announces as he soothes Zoe. "We grabbed them and a few non-perishable food items when we were leaving."

"Any money?" Nikki rises slightly from her seat and removes a hand from the wheel, fishing in her back pocket for the decent sized fold of cash she has. "Ass money," he says, earning a smack on the arm from his partner. "Always warm."

"Shut up," she says again, spotting the headlights in the rearview and pressing harder on the gas. "And hold on. This shitheads don't know how to give up."

"Speaking of shit," Deadpool perks up, pulling out one of the assumed dead soldiers. "We need to find a gas station or something."

Some of the tension slips from Nikki's face and her white knuckled grip on the wheel loosens. "Shut the fuck up," she says, finally settling into her battle mode after being thrown off by the surprise attack. "I don't wanna pay for atomic bomb damage."

"I'm not that bad."

Nikki presses her lips together and shakes her head slightly. "I'm not going to comment on that."


	9. Chapter 9

**Surprise!**

The car screeches and sputters before releasing a large puff of black smoke and dying, rolling to a slow stop just before the rest stop exit. Nikki releases an irritated huff and yanks the gear to park. "Well now," Reese starts, watching as Nikki seems to sink into her seat with exhaustion. "We made it farther than I anticipated."

"I gotta admit," Desmond agrees, smiling slightly as Tyler starts to mumble and stir from his shock. "We did get pretty far."

"Not far enough," the black-haired teen counters sourly, ignoring the angry honks of the other drivers. "They'll be here soon. We need to keep moving."

"But first..." Wade starts, reaching down and sliding another small knife from his boot. "We need to get that tracker from our buddy's arm."

A look of pure terror forms on Ryan's face as Deadpool moves to crawl over the seat. "Whoa man!" he says, attempting to scramble into the farthest seat with Desmond and Tyler. "Take a breath!"

Once again, Nikki grabs her partner's face and pushes him back into his seat, lifting a hand and causing shadows to strap him down. "We'll take the tracker out in the bathroom," she says, biting back a yawn. "Is Tyler able to walk yet?"

"Supported," Tyler replies, voice raspy and quiet. "But yeah. I can walk."

"Great," the teen replies, unlocking the doors and opening hers. "Let's go." She flicks her wrist and releases Wade from his shadow bonds before everyone else follows her lead and climbs out.

The dusty group slowly makes their way to the rest area, Nikki and Deadpool in the front and back of the group, respectively, making sure no one gets left too far behind. It may have only been a half mile walk, but with Tyler dragging his feet, Desmond having to slow his pace to help him walk, and Ryan lagging behind to chat with Deadpool, the trip takes more than thirty minutes. Zoe, who was asleep in Reese's arms, is woken up and passed to Nikki and taken to the bathroom to use it and get cleaned up a bit. Once everyone is less gross than before and relieved, Nikki breaks open a couple vending machines and they grab dinner. With arms and a spare bag full of junk food and soft drinks, Deadpool disappears and reappears a couple seconds later in a navy blue Toyota Highlander. The owner realizes it's his when the five other people start piling in, causing everyone to scramble over each other to get in before Deadpool speeds off.

"You could've just rented a vehicle," Reese scolds, peering out the back window as the owner start dialing on his phone. "It would've been-"

"No insurance," Deadpool explains as Nikki scooches down in her seat and rests her knees on the dashboard. "No valid ID. Basically we'd be stealing that car too."

"Plus I hate rental people," the younger mercenary comments tiredly, shifting her gaze to Wade as she speaks. "Did you get the tracker out of Ryan's arm?"

The red man nods and shifts, reaching in a pouch in the back and pulling out a nearly minuscule, green, button like device. "Right here."

Nikki's eyebrows pull together and she frowns. "This is weird," she mutters, reaching for the tracker. Once it's in her hands, the teen turns it over and over and examines it. "It's broken."

Wade shifts again and earns Nikki's attention, his face showing clear guilt even under the mask. "Yeah...uh, I meant to tell you," he starts nervously. "Ryan...wasn't exactly the stillest patient..."

Ryan scoffs loudly from the back and appears in the space between the front seats. "Don't blame this on me!" he exclaims, causing Nikki to groan in annoyance. "You're the one who insisted on moving fast!"

"So we can be done faster!" Wade retaliates, earning another groan from the passenger. "We needed to move-"

"Wade," Nikki mumbles, silencing her partner in the middle of his sentence. "It doesn't matter that it got broken. We didn't want it working anyway. If it were still working and you decided to bring it along, they would've known where we were going." With that, the teen rolls down the window and tosses the device out. "Where are we going, Ryan?"

"Uhh," the other teen starts, leaning back into his seat and looking out the window. He scans a few road signs for a seconds before pointing a finger at the right one. "That one," he says. "Toward Seattle."

"Northwest?" Nikki inquires as her partner haphazardly zips across three lanes of traffic to the off ramp.

Wade snorts and glances at their newest member in the back mirror. "Are we going to Alaska or something?" he asks half jokingly.

Ryan ponders the question for a moment, earning an expectant look from Nikki and concerned looks from everyone else. "I think so," he admits, earning a loud groan of complaint from Wade in response. "It was really cold...lots of snow...I think I saw a moose once..."

The mercenaries exchange a look before Nikki sighs and pulls her phone from her pocket. "What's Quintin's number?" she asks, passing the dying device to Reese. "We need to tell him the change in plan."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tyler protests, now fully out of shock and leaning forward to be heard better. "We aren't reeally going to Alaska are we?"

"You don't have to," she reminds, accepting the returned phone and putting it on speaker. "Deadpool and I already said we can handle this on our own."

"Nickleback is right," the older merc agrees over the ringing phone. "We can leave you at the next motel and be gone if you'd prefer."

The tone he uses causes the guard to pause, passing a look to Desmond as if silently asking for help. Before anyone can say anything else, the line connects and Quintin's worry filled voice fills the air. "Is everything ok?" he asks quickly, causing Nikki to blink in surprise at the suddenness of the question. "What happened? Is Zoe alright? Did someone die?"

Deadpool plucks the phone from her hand and pins it between his ear and his shoulder. "Q-tip, breathe," he instructs soothingly despite the bird he flips to an equally annoyed driver behind him. "Everyone is fine. We're just having some complications in the plans."

"Complications!?" Quintin repeats, another voice on the other end quieting him and reminding him about his blood pressure or something of the sort. Nikki and Wade share another look as the employer's end goes quiet. "What kind of complications?" he asks after a moment, the phone being passed back to Nikki so Deadpool can merge.

"Minor ones," Nikki assures, holding the device between herself and her partner. "We were being tracked-"

"WHAT!?"

"-but it's OK. We took the tracker out of Ryan's arm and now we're off the radar."

"Who the crap is Ryan?"

"Our new friend," Wade comments, pointing to a pack of Nutter Butters resting on Nikki's lap. "He was shooting at us, but now he's helping us shoot at the other people."

"He shot at you and you're bringing him with you!?"

Nikki passes Wade a half-hearted glare and rolls her eyes when he shrugs nonchalantly in reply. "He had the right to know," he defends as the second voice soothes Quintin.

"Quintin," Nikki huffs, not responding to Wade's correct point. "Quintin, listen. Everything is fine. Everyone is fine. We only have Ryan to gain the upper hand against the enemy."

"Right," Deadpool agrees, lightly grabbing Nikki's hand and pulling the phone closer to him. "In fact, we're going after them as we speak."

Quintin breathes deeply on the other hand and goes quiet for a moment. "With Zoe?"

"That's right."

Another quiet moment before Quintin speaks again. "And where are you going to be?"

Nikki pulls her arm back toward herself. "We're thinking Alaska."

"WHAT-"

Deadpool quickly disconnects the line, grabbing the phone from Nikki's hand and shoving under his butt before Quintin can finish his thought. "We'll let him cool down for a bit," he says through a hesitant smile. "He'll see it our way."

"Maybe," Nikki sighs, resting her head on headrest. "We are taking a big risk bring Zoe to the enemy when we know they want her d-"

Wade grunts a protesting sound and wipes the side of her face to stop her from continuing. "Don't say that," he whines, causing Nikki to lean away from his gentle brushes. "She's going to be fine."

"I don't doubt it," she assures, raising her own hand and pushing his away. "But we still don't know what we're up against. Bringing five untrained people into potentially hostile territory isn't what we normally do."

A smile forms under Wade's mask and a light hearted chuckle pushes from his lips. "We don't do anything normally," he reminds, earning the traces of a smile from Nikki in reply. "Besides, Zoe's definitely safer with us no matter what happens. And even if we get in a fight, if they're anything like Ryan or them, we're golden." He waits a moment for a response to his quip and frowns when none arise. "What the hell?"

Nikki turns slightly and glances in the back, seeing that the ente crew in the back is asleep, Reese curled protectively beside Zoe in the middle section while Tyler, Desmond and Ryan lean against each other in the back. "Shit," she huffs, finally starting to feel her own exhaustion settle in. "Maybe we should find a place to crash for the night."

"That's where we're heading," her partner says through his own yawn. "You had about five hundred seventy dollars on you. That should be enough to get a hotel room and some better clothes."

"We don't need better clothes," Nikki counters, shooting Wade a cautious look from the corner of her eye. "We can deal with the ones we have for now."

Another yawn pushes past Deadpool's lips and he lifts a hand to rub his eye. "Fine," he agrees, though his tone shows he's reluctant to do so. "But if I go sour, it's your fault..."

The words trail into another yawn and Nikki frowns. "Pull over," she instructs, glancing behind her toward the shoulder of the road. "Let me drive a bit."

"I got it."

"You're falling asleep at the wheel."

"No I'm..." Another yawn and Nikki raises an eyebrow. Wade ignores it for a few seconds before sighing in defeat and flicking on his signal. "Alright," he says, pulling onto the shoulder and putting the car in park. "Hurry up, though," he insists as they both exit the car. "I don't know how long the wires can last."

"I got it," the teen assures as they cross over and re-enter on the other sides. "Ready?"

"Put your seatbelt on," he reminds as he settles into the passenger seat and hooks his belt. "Then we can go."

Nikki rolls her eyes but does as told, clicking her seatbelt and earning a nod of approval from her partner before getting back on the road. "Now that it's just us in the car..." she starts, sending another glance to the back to ensure her statement. "Did you get that letter to the handwriting person yet?"

"Mm-mm," Wade replies, shifting a bit to look at her through half-lidded eyes. "Haven't had the time," he slurs. "Shit's been hitting the fan nonstop since we've started this mission. Do we grab enough stuff when we had to bail?"

"They grabbed two bags of food," the younger mercenary replies, voice tight to show her true displeasure in their situation.

"Panic makes stupid," Wade reminds, reaching over and patting her shoulder a couple times. "Don't worry about it." Pause for yawn. "We can stop by a stash and get some more in the morning."

The black haired merc bites back her comment about how one o'clock is technically morning, and instead removes a hand from the wheel and gently holds his. "Fine," she huffs, feeling his grip start to loosen as he drifts off to sleep. "I hope you're right."

Wade hums assuringly and lowers his hand, dragging Nikki's free one down as he keeps a grip on her hand. "I tend to be right a good portion of the time," he jokes through a tired grin. "Remember?"

"I know," she admits through her own forming smile. "But I still hate everyone."

Wade cracks an eye open and passes her a teasing expectant look in reply. "Except me, right?" he quips, earning a half snort from Nikki in reply.

"I'd hand deliver you to the devil for half an Almond Joy," she jokes back, earning a confused look from Wade in response.

"Aren't you vegan?"

"Right?"

Wade must put all of his energy into his final laugh because he falls asleep a few seconds after he lets it go. Nikki allows her smile to linger for a few more seconds before falling back into her normal concentrated frown. She doesn't like not knowing her enemy. She really doesn't like bringing untrained civilians into a hostile situation. But Wade is right. They're all safer with them than if they dumped them in a hotel and made them wait for a ride to wherever. Not everyone is safe on Uber after all.

She almost laughs at her own joke, but she bites it back due to the others sleeping around her. That and the fact her joke probably wasn't even that funny to start with. A heavy yawn tries to push from her core, but she forces it back, tear filled eyes passing over an information sign as she passes it. "Next hotel is over a hundred miles away," she mumbles to herself, glancing at the gas meter and frowning. "And we have half a tank of gas..." The mercenary takes it as a challenge and readjust her hold on the wheel. "Alright then," she grumbles, flicking on her signal and passing into the fast lane. "I'm getting there."

 **Heeyyy! I know this is probably so much later than you thought when I called hiatus, but I may be back! I had this chapter started before everything went bad, and I finished it last weekend but didn't post it. Why? No clue. But that's not an excuse. Imma try to get this thing rolling again. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to be back.**

 **To anyone who's still here, thanks for the patience. To those who are just arriving, how are ya? To everyone in general, thank you for everything.**


	10. Chapter 10

**This is another chapter I had sitting for a while but I've been dealing with life stuff so here it is late. I'll try to be !ore punctual with shit next time around.**

 **i own nothing but my characters.**

"And you're sure you absolutely **_have_** to go to Alaska?" Quentin asks, tone calmer than it was the previous night. "And it's totally necessary that you take my daughter and my men into a potentially dangerous situation?"

Deadpool, now well rested from sleeping in the crap bed of the first motel Nikki came to before running out of gas, plucks the phone from its place on the nightstand and hums an affirmative. "That's right," he confirms, pinning the phone between his shoulder and ear to aid Nikki in reassembling the guns she cleaned. "We've decided that everyone is much safer with us than without us."

It's silent on the employer's end for a moment before he speaks again. "I believe it," he admits. "But where are they going to be if you have to...you know..."

"Kill someone?" Wade finishes, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yes."

A victorious smile pulls up Wade's lips at the reluctance in Quintin's tone and he shifts the phone. "They'll be fine," he assures, passing Nikki the cleaning rag she points to. "We'll make sure of it."

"How will you make sure of it?" the employer asks, dragging out the first word for emphasis.

Nikki rolls her eyes as she runs the dry rag over the chamber. "This isn't our first rodeo, Q," Wilson assures, locking a new magazine into his reassembled gun. "We can make sure people don't get shot."

"Isn't that a bit out of nature for you two?"

Wade barks out a sarcastic laugh at the same time Nikki's eyes narrow dangerously. "We have a lot of natures, Q," he remarks, though Nikki can hear the tightness in his tone. "Anyhow, we'll make sure everyone is bundled up nice and warm during the trip and we should be back within the week."

"Should be?"

Once again, Nikki rolls her eyes and leans forward, dropping the cloth and grabbing the phone from Deadpool's arm. "Quinten," she begins, pinning the phone against her shoulder just as Deadpool did. "This mission is cake. You just need to relax and let us do our job, alright?"

The employer tries and fails to start a response sentence three times before settling on a defeated sigh. "Fine."

"Great. We'll have Zoe call you before we leave, alright?"

"Where is she now?"

"Taking a bath."

"Great." He releases a nervous stream of air for about half a minute before inhaling dramatically. "Great. Talk to you then."

"Talk to you then." Before Quinten can say anything else, Nikki removes the phone from her ear and disconnects the line. "Overbearing ass," she grumbles, haphazardly tossing the phone on the nightstand and returning to cleaning her gun. "We have everything under control. He hired us."

"He's a dad," Wade reminds. "I would act the same way if my kid were in this situation."

Nikki blinks in surprise and raises her eyes to his. "You never told me you had a kid," she says, voice just barely over a whisper.

An almost sad smile dances on her partner's unmasked lips and he nods slowly. "Ellie," he responds. "Her name is Ellie. She's about to turn nine soon..."

"Are you going to see her?"

"No," he says solemnly, the smile fading slightly at the edges. "I can't put her at risk like that."

The teenage mercenary has no response, so she doesn't offer any. Instead she returns her attention to the weapon in her lap. Before anyone can break the silence they lapse into, the bathroom door opens and Zoe steps out, an itchy looking towel wrapped tightly around herself. "I'm finished," she announces, pulling Deadpool from his funk and causing him to smile wider.

"Hello!" he cheers, whipping around and hiding the gun behind his back. "How do you feel?"

"Clean!" Zoe replies, sharing his enthusiasm despite there being no reason for it. "Can I have some clothes please?"

Wade turns back to Nikki with an expectant look. "Can she?" he inquires, causing Nikki to frown slightly and drop her newly reassembled gun into her lap.

"I'll see what I have," she grumbles, leaning over the side of her bed to grab her bag. After yanking it open and rifling through a bit, Nikki comes up with a pair of surprisingly clean boxers and a relatively decent T-shirt. "It's probably going to be huge on her," she informs, passing both articles to Wade. "But it's what I have at the moment."

"They'll be fine," Deadpool assures, taking the clothes and passing them to Zoe. "Her clothes should be almost dry by now, so it's only a temporary thing." Zoe accepts the clothes and scurries back to the bathroom, causing Wade to smile fondly when she shuts the door.

"Why'd you wash her clothes anyway?" Nikki asks, pulling Wade back from his thoughts. "Could she not have survived if they weren't?"

"Spending weeks in the same dirty clothes is gross, Nick. We out of everyone should know that." Once again Nikki falls short finding a response, so she settles for putting the guns away. "What are we gonna do with the four musketeers?" Wade asks handing his gun over to his partner.

"Conference with them," she replies as she accepts the weapon, loading a clip in and handing it back. "Explain every possible outcome of what could happen and make it very clear that everyone could die. We'll let them make a choice from that."

The older mercenary ponders the thought for a moment before smiling and nodding in agreement. "Rational," he drawls happily. "I knew I kept you around for a reason." Nikki raises an eyebrow at the gun she loads before lifting her gaze to meet her partner's. Wade laughs loudly and plops onto the bed beside her, grabbing her by a shoulder and dragging her into a tight hug. "Awww don't look like that, Nicholas! You know I love you!"

Despite her best efforts, a faint smile pulls Nikki's lips up. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbles into his shoulder, lifting her arm to hook around his. "I love you too..." A few hesitant knocks on the door causes the two to break their embrace and Nikki sighs. "I guess the Stooges finally decided to wake up," she comments, pushing herself to a stand and tucking her gun in the back of her pants. "I'll let them in. You check on the-" Wade sends her a stern look and causes the word to die in her throat. "Check on Zoe," she corrects. "My bad."

Wade smiles and nods in confirmation and bounces off the bed, keeping the spring in his step as he bounds for the bathroom. Another faint smile dances on Nikki's lips but is instantly wiped away when two more knocks land on the door. "Fuckers..." she grumbles as she turns for the door. Before the next knock is placed, the black-haired teen reaches out and yanks open the door, causing Ryan, Reese, Tyler, and Desmond to freeze and take a step back. "I heard you the first time," she bites coldly, taking two steps to the side to let them in. "If you knock anymore the next time, I'm going to cut your hands off."

Ryan, who apparently held the job of knocking, quickly lowers his fist and hides both hands behind his back. "Noted," he says, tone apologetic as he and the others slide past Nikki into the room. "Very noted."

Nikki grunts a reply and pushes the door shut once everyone is inside. "What's going on?" Tyler asks, he and the others seeming more alert and a bit cleaner than they were the night before. "Where's Deadpool?"

"Where's Zoe?" Reese interrupts before Nikki can answer.

Wade and Zoe emerge from the bathroom, both wearing similar grins as the mercenary motions to the girl's head. "Sorry," he says as everyone notices the French braid in Zoe's hair. "She didn't like her hair in her face."

Tyler raises a skeptical eyebrow and looks back to Deadpool. "Since when did you know how to braid hair?" he asks, causing Nikki to raise her own eyebrow challengingly.

"I have hair," she reminds, tone a bit colder than even she anticipated.

The guard cringes at her tone and nods quickly a few times. "Point taken," he declares, causing Nikki to nod in confirmation and turn back to Deadpool. "Well," she starts in her normal neutrality. "Gang's all here."

The older merc nods in agreement and nudges Zoe toward Reese. "We need to talk," he states, watching as the small child bounces over to her caretaker. "Like. Really talk."

The serious tone Wade uses seems to shock everyone, except Nikki, and the men glance at each other, a mutual look of nervousness in each of their eyes. They all move slowly and take seats wherever they can, carefully avoid the array of guns and gun parts that cover Nikki's bed. "What's up?" Desmond asks, seemingly deciding to be the one to break the silence quickly.

Nikki and Wade exchange a look as well before the red mercenary nods for her to start. A half sigh of annoyance is pushed from Nikki's nose at the notion of being volunteered for something she didn't want to do, but she turns to the crowd anyway. "If you guys are serious about tagging along on this thing," she starts, drawing all eyes in her direction. "Then you should know what you're getting in to."

Desmond raises an eyebrow at the statement and cautiously lifts a hand. "We already know what we're getting in to," he states, causing Nikki to roll her eyes and shake her head.

"You really don't," she counters. "All you know is the basics of what could happen. If we're being honest, there's only three ways this thing could end, and only two are what I can see happening. One, everyone here dies and they go after Quinten and his wife next. Two, most of everyone here dies and we manage to kill who we need to. Three, everyone here lives, we kill all the enemies, and Zoe gets back to her family safe. You can take a guess and which one I'm banking on."

A heavy silence falls over the room, no one meeting each other's eye and instead focusing intently on their feet. "What happens to Zoe in the second one?" Reese asks quietly, causing Wade to lift his eyes to his.

"Depends on what happens to us," he states solemnly. "Nikki and I are the only ones who actually know how to fight and defend people during a confrontation, and we're not afraid to kill when we need to."

"If I get killed and Deadpool gets put out of commission, you guys will be killed," the younger mercenary states definitely, passing her gaze over the nervous faces of the men in the room. "If they kill all of us, then they're going after Zoe next. Then they'll get Quinten and whoever else they want."

"Face it," Deadpool adds. "If you guys come along, you're either going to be in the way or be killed because you can't fight. That's all you're good for at this point."

"The best thing you can do for yourselves and this job, is let us put you into hiding and let everything blow over."

Reese's head snaps up and he looks at Nikki, almost glaring, but the look is more desperate than anything. "And Zoe?" he asks. "What would you do with her?"

Deadpool and Nikki share another look. "She'd have to come with us," Wade replies through a huff. "It's the only place where we can guarantee her safety."

The black haired teen nods in agreement. "One person is easier to protect."

The older male looks between the two mercenaries before simply shaking his head. "Not happening," he rejects completely, causing Nikki and Wade to sigh. "Zoe is supposed to be in my care. I'm not just going to leave her in your care! You're probably more reckless than anyone you've ever come across!"

Wade opens his mouth to respond, but Nikki frowns and nods in disappointed confirmation. "He's got a point," she admits through a tired sigh. "We generally tend to not care about what happens to us during missions. You have your healing abilities and I...well...I just don't care much." She turns her head to look at him directly. "We're pretty reckless."

A mixture of emotions flash across the male mercenary's face before he too settles on reluctant agreement. "Alright, we're reckless," he declares. "But we've had jobs where we needed to keep people safe and we've done it flawlessly each time!"

Reese leans forward challengingly and Nikki's hand instinctively moves to her gun. For a few seconds, all he can do is open and shut his mouth in search of a suitable response, only to end up allowing a defeated sigh take the place of any words. A heavy silence falls over the room, everyone still refusing to make eye contact with the others. Zoe manages to catch Wade's eye and he flashes her a reassuring smile before rising from his spot and approaching her.

"We can take care of her," he says to the room, reaching down and lifting the child into his arms. "We can take care of all of you, honestly. It's just a bit trickier watching children. So we're trying to put all of our focus on her so we don't mess up something in the process of fixing it."

"Then why can't you just break into teams?" Ryan suggests, earning everyone's attention for the first time since they've entered the room. "You watch Zoe while Nikki handles us?"

"Because then I can't get to Nikki if something goes wrong," Wade counters easily. "Since Nikki doesn't have any type of healing abilities, I need to be able to be close enough to block her if things get too sticky."

Tyler's brow creases at the statement. "Then how would you defend Zoe of you're too busy worrying about Nikki?"

Nikki shifts her gaze to his. "I block Zoe. Deadpool blocks both of us."

"Exactly," Wade agrees with a quick nod, stealthily dropping his gun on the bed before shifting Zoe to his other hip. "Any more than that and we'd be pushing it. Plus Nikki's shadows can only last for so long before she exhausts herself, then things really go to shit."

Reese still frowns and shakes his head in firm disagreement. "I still don't trust your plans," he states, his tone telling the mercenaries that he doesn't plan on giving up any time soon. "You two tend to leave a trail of destruction in your wake no matter the mission. How is that supposed to assure me that Zoe won't end up one of your unintended casualties?"

Wade visibly stiffens and Nikki shoots daggers at the older man. "You little-"

"Why don't you just teach us how to fight?"

Once again, all eyes shift to Tyler, his eyes wide with realization as the idea hits. "Teach us how to fight," he repeats, nodding slowly as he waits for the idea to sink in. "We don't need to know everything. Hell, I doubt we can even learn half the shit you guys are able to do. But if you can teach us the basics, we might be able to hold the bad guys until you get there. If not, we can at least slow them down."

The anger ebbs from Nikki's eyes and is replaced with consideration, her gaze turning to Wade to see the same look on his face. "It would make it easier for them to get out of the way," Deadpool reasons, earning a half frown from his partner in reply. "Plus if we get them decent enough, they could lay us down some cover fire if we need it."

Nikki takes a second to actually think the plan through before humming once and nodding. "I guess it could work," she starts. "I mean, it's gonna suck..."

Desmond scoffs and waves a hand dismissively. "We can take whatever you dish," he assures in mock smugness.

Sarcastic laughter pushes from Wade's core and he has to remember that he's holding Zoe to keep himself from falling over. "Trust me, macho man," he starts in a similar tight tone. "You're going to be eating those words."

A challenging smirk just barely flickers on Nikki's lips and she passes another look around the room. "If everyone's in agreement?" she offers, receiving no objections before shrugging carelessly. "Great. We'll start after breakfast. Eat something light and-"

Desmond's hand shoots up again, wearing the same confused look as the rest of the room. "Wait, we're starting today?"

Deadpool and Nikki raise an eyebrow and pass each other another look. "Why wouldn't we?" the older mercenary inquires, returning their attention to the guard. "We have to leave soon, so it's better to start as soon as possible, right?"

No one seems to have a rebuttal for the argument and Wade smiles again. "Great!" he cheers, bouncing Zoe higher on his hip. "Let's go eat!"


	11. Chapter 11

I **actually didn't wait to post this this time! Someone applaud me! I own nothing**

"I said keep your hands up," Nikki huffs, watching nonchalantly as Tyler helps nurse Desmond's bleeding nose. "That's actually one of the first things I told you. How come Ryan's the only one who seems to get it?"

"Cause you aren't trying to hit him," Desmond shoots back angrily, holding a red stained shirt scrap to his nose in a useless attempt at stopping the blood. His voice sounds very congested and slightly slurred, leading Nikki to the assumption that she must have caught his mouth too.

Ryan's eyebrows shoot up and he shakes his head frantically. "Oh no, she's trying," he defends. "I just refuse to get hit."

"Besides," Nikki interjects, locking her fingers together and stretching her arms out in front of her. "I'm taking it easy on you guys."

This time it's Desmond's eyebrows that shoot up as he bats away Tyler's hands. "Taking it easy on us?" he echos, rising from the ground and throwing his hands up. "Are you fucking serious! You just broke my nose and you call it take it easy!?"

Amused chuckles draw the group's attention to the right as Deadpool and Zoe approach, the former showing his mirth clearly under his mask. "Nikki didn't break your nose," he assures cheerfully, earning a death intending glare from the bloody faced man. "If she did, you'd be dead."

Ryan's face is the first that changes, first to shock, then confusion. "How does that work?"

Wade lifts the hand not holding Zoe's and presses the heel of it lightly against the bottom of his nose. "If you put enough pressure right here, you can send the cartilage of someone's nose through the skull and into the brain," he explains, causing Tyler to go slightly green around the edges. "So if she ever actually takes an intentional shot at the nose, that's what she's going for."

All eyes turn to Nikki, who simply shrugs. "The most I did to you was bruise your ego," she agrees.

Desmond stares for a few more seconds before nodding slowly and lowering himself back to the ground in front of Tyler. "Right," he says quietly. "Thanks for not killing me."

"Don't worry about it."

"Hey!" Reese calls from the car, having opted to stay there and look out rather than actually fight. They had to leave pretty early to not be charged for another night in the hotel, and the surrounding area wasn't secure enough to assure they wouldn't be spotted. So they drove a bit and found a nice place on the side of the interstate and hiked to a clearing not too far from the road to do it.

"A minivan pulled up behind us! What do I do?"

Deadpool scoops Zoe into his arms and trots to Nikki's side, using his free hand to swat her lightly when she swears bitterly. "Should we send them out and say they had to pee?" he suggests. "Send them up the road and meet them at the next exit?"

"The next exit is over twenty miles away," the younger mercenary reminds, watching carefully as the driver of the minivan, a preppy looking middle aged man, walks up and starts talking to Reese. "We'll all go out."

"Then what?"

Nikki falls silent then starts forward, motioning for everyone to follow her as she does. "I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

The group makes their way up to the car and surprises the man talking to Reese, pulling a shocked outburst from his lips as he clutches his chest. "Lord have mercy, y'all scared me half to death," he starts, country twang almost intriguing Nikki with the unfamiliarly of the sound. "What're y'all doin' all the way out there?"

"Stopped to stretch," Nikki starts, subtly motioning for everyone to start getting back in the car. "Dog ran out as soon as we opened the door. We went to look but Daniel here ran into damn tree."

"How the hell did he do that?"

"Beats the hell out of me," the teen starts with a shrug, glancing behind her to see if everyone's gotten in. "We're going to look in the next town, maybe someone picked her up already."

The man shifts his weight to the other leg and uses his thumb to point at his truck behind them. "I live in the next town," he informs. "I know the owner of the kennel 'round there. If you'd like, I can get y'all in touch with him and see if she's there?"

Nikki forces a polite smile and shakes her head. "No thank you," she rejects, her voice tight as she slowly backs toward her vehicle. "We can manage just fine. Besides, we're wanting to explore around here anyway." She reaches the passenger door and grabs the handle. "Sorry for wasting your time. Thank you."

Without waiting for a response, Nikki enters her door and slams it shut, Deadpool barely allowing the latch to close all the way before peeling away. "That was the weakest smile I've ever seen you force in your entire life," he declares, the beginning stages of laughter teetering in his tone. "And I've seen you listen to an entire lecture from a Jehovah's Witness."

The teen cracks an actual smile at her friend's comment and shrugs nonchalantly, sliding down in her seat and resting her feet on the dashboard. "I wasn't prepared," she explains, examining and frowning at some of Desmond's blood that dried on her knuckles. "If I had more time, it probably would've been better."

Ryan leans forward from his space in the back and clears his throat. "Alright, alright," he starts, "now that our little training session is over, what's our next move?"

"More training."

"I gotta take a shit."

Nikki and Deadpool exchange a look before breaking into a fit of giggles at each other's response. Well, Deadpool laughs, Nikki simply smiles wider and shakes her head fondly. "We can find a bathroom soon," the younger mercenary assures, shifting up to slide the pistol from the back of her pants and grazing the bandage covering her stitches. "I saw a rest stop sign-"

"He meant about the whole trip to Alaska," Reese interrupts, annoyance clear in his voice. "How are we going to get there? We can't possibly drive the whole way, we'd have to pass through Canada."

"Not a problem," Wade responds casually. "I'm Canadian."

"But we aren't," the older man snaps, tone basically showing Nikki that he rolled his eyes. "We can't just huddle up in the trunk and hope for the best. We'd be caught before we even reached the border."

This time Nikki rolls her eyes and sighs heavily through her nose. "We're getting on a boat," she grumbles. "It was supposed to be a surprise but now you made me ruin it."

Ryan slaps his hand against Nikki's seat and it's almost enough to send Nikki into a frenzy. "We're taking a boat!" he says excitedly. "I've never been on a boat!"

"Desmond gets sea sick," Tyler comments from the far back. "It's a mess. He almost time our honeymoon when he puked on the-"

Wade lifts his hand in shock and almost loses control of the car had Nikki not reached over and grabbed the wheel. "Wait! You two are married!?" he cries, turning fully in his seat. "Really!?"

Desmond and Tyler share a nervous look before nodding slowly in confirmation. "Yes," Desmond answers. "We've been married for almost three years now."

"We just aren't allowed to wear our rings at work," Tyler explains. "We didn't remember to grab them for this job. Habits and all."

Almost everyone in the car jumps when Deadpool slams his fist against the back of his seat. "Fuck! Why didn't you tell us!? I never would've hit on Tyler if I knew you were married! Now I feel like an ass!"

Nikki exhales lightly and rolls her eyes. "You should feel like an ass for making me drive like this."

The tension leaves the couple's expression and is replaced by relief as Wade turns back to properly take the wheel. "I just didn't want to hurt your feelings," Tyler responds, a gentle smile forming on his face as he weaves his fingers through his husband's. "Plus we didn't know how you all would take it."

Wade raises an eyebrow under his mask and glances at Desmond in the rearview mirror. "So wait? If you two are married, why were you Googling Nikki?"

Desmond sighs and wipes his nose again. "I told you, I like how she fights," he responds in a huff. "I wanted to learn how she fights, so I'd watch YouTube videos and try to copy off of those. The rest of the stuff was just basic knowledge and guessing."

The two mercenaries share a look before Wade explodes in a fit of laughter. "You tried to fight like Nikki?" he laughs, earning a light smack in the arm from Nikki in response. "Whew buddy, you have a long way to go before you get close to Nikki's level."

"Yeah, I see that now," the bleeding man responds, lifting his blood soaked shirt from his chest in emphasis.

Nikki shakes her head and glances back at everyone in the car. "Is anyone hungry?" she asks casually. "I'm kinda hungry."

Ryan shrugs and finally leans back in his seat again. "I could eat."

Tyler and Desmond exchange a look before they both nod. "We're pretty hungry," Tyler says for the both of them.

"I want food!" Zoe cheers.

Reese passes an exasperated look around at his group mates and nearly bruises himself with how hard he raises his hand to his head. "You people!" he exclaims, earning raised eyebrows all around. "Everyone seems to forget that we're in the middle of a mission! We're about to go to Alaska because we're being hunted by people we don't even know! Everyone could die!"

"No one forgot," Nikki assures. "We just do things differently.

"If everyone focuses on dying all the time, we wouldn't get anything done," Wade elaborates. "So we focus on different things at different times to get things done without worrying."

"That way no one bitches and complains about being scared all the time," Nikki continues. "We keep the focused on little tasks and do the big things covertly."

Reese looks between Nikki and Wade for a moment or two, an almost stunned look on his face as he searches for a proper response. "That's actually really smart," he admits in defeat, seeming to slump back in his seat tiredly. "Yes. I'm hungry."

A broad grin spreads under Deadpool's mask and he signals for the next off ramp. "Food stop it is!" he declares proudly. "Then gas! After that, we ain't stopping until we get to the boat!"

Ryan raises an eyebrow. "How far away is the boat?"

"Just make sure you pee," Nikki answers vaguely. "Cause we're not stopping no matter what."

The entire car goes quiet as the word sink in, Tyler just about to voice his concern as Deadpool starts bouncing in his seat excitedly. "I see Ihop!" he shouts happily, already signalling to get over on the needed side. "We're going to Ihop!"

The younger mercenary rolls her eyes and turns to look at everyone in the back. "Is everyone OK with Ihop?" Everyone shrugs and Nikki nods in finalization. "Ihop it is."


End file.
